


Caffeine

by Battlefox



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Critical Role: Wildemount Campaign (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Retail, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 02:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13672839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Battlefox/pseuds/Battlefox
Summary: Caleb Widogast is a barista at the Briarwood Mall's only coffee shop. Life is not going as planned, and when he meets a man named Molly, it only gets weirder.(mildly inspired by this Tumblr post: http://fullyrealized.tumblr.com/post/170770915391 )





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m sorry…. You want….  _ What _ in your coffee?” The bags under Caleb’s eyes, no matter how prominent, could not even begin to describe the level of exasperation he was feeling with the man in front of him. His hand rested on the cash register, the order only partially inputted due to a last minute addition by the annoyingly awake man in front of him.

“You know, just a bit of- come on, you know what I’m talking about,” The man said, waving his hand as if he were trying to assist his description with the gesture. It did nothing to help. 

“I…. drugs? Are you trying to ask me to put drugs in your coffee?” Caleb finally managed to surmise, “You think I have drugs.”

“Shh! Shh,” The man glanced to the side. Luckily, the food court that the coffee shop resided in was completely empty. It was before opening hours, so the only current customers were other mall employees, most of whom had already retrieved their morning brews. After confirming that they were alone, the man looked back to Caleb, “You’re not very good with subtlety, are you?”

“Sir,” Caleb replied with a flat tone, his fingers now automatically completing the order on the register, “It’s too early for subtlety. I’m not putting drugs in your espresso. Total comes to $6.27.”

“Tsk,” The man clicked his tongue seeming disappointed, but not really surprised. He tugged one of the excessive chains hanging from his pants and produced his wallet, fishing out a ten dollar bill. “Oh well. Was worth a shot. Keep the change.” He moved away to sit at one of the rickety plastic tables nearby, pulling out a phone and shifting his attention entirely to it.

Caleb didn’t move for a moment, just eyeing the man’s purple hair and and various piercings while he contemplated existence. Then, finally, he went through the motions that had now become entirely mechanical for him. He’d seen this guy before once or twice in the mall, but he hadn’t ever spoken to him. Caleb was pretty sure that he worked in one of the stores he did his best to avoid- probably the Spencers, or the Hot Topic. Then again, he never did much wandering in the mall anyways. He couldn’t afford what was in a majority of the stores, and the other half he didn’t care too much about anyways. During his breaks he either stuck around in the food court, or walked across the street to the Barnes & Noble. 

“Double Espresso,” Caleb said, setting the completed drink on the counter, with a fleeting thought as to if he should even bother calling for it, since the man was the only one around anyways. The man practically leapt up and then sauntered to the counter, claiming his cup in a single smooth movement. 

Much to Caleb’s chagrin, he did not immediately leave.

“So, you been working here for long?” The man asked, flashing Caleb a grin that held entirely too much teeth.

“Long enough,” Caleb replied, trying to act as closed-off and unresponsive as he could. He turned around and started working on cleaning the counter there.  _ Please go away please go away please… _

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve seen you here before?” The man sipped his espresso then leaned against the pickup counter casually.

“I’ve, er, been on a later shift until a few days ago,” Caleb responded, inwardly cringing at the conversation. Why wouldn’t he just leave?! He glanced over his shoulder, uncomfortably meeting the man’s gaze, “Don’t you work… somewhere in here? Aren’t you opening soon?” Caleb gave the clock a pointed look. It was less than five minutes until 9:00. 

“I’ve got time,” The man responded with an infuriating chuckle, “Coworker’s opening. As long as I get back before 9:10, I’m good.”

“…Nice coworker.” Caleb snorted. He couldn’t imagine any of his coworkers would agree to that.

“Yeah, we’ve got a deal going,” The man shrugged, “She opens while I hang out, and then she can skip out whenever. Works for us both.”

“Don’t you have a manager of some kind?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t care as long as shit gets done,” He shrugged, taking another sip of his drink. Caleb returned to trying to look very very busy cleaning the already spotless counter. The man sighed a bit, “Alright, alright. I can tell when I’m not wanted. Nice to meet you…?”

“….Caleb.” Caleb offered eventually, allowing himself to look back once more.

“Caleb.” The man nodded, and stepped back, “Molly. Nice t’ meet you.” He gave a little half wave that was almost a salute, then turned and sauntered out of the food court, towards the stores.

Caleb, just grateful that he finally had a moment of peace, returned to the cash register and slipped out a worn book, already pushing the brief annoyance the man had caused out of his mind.

***

_ “Dad!” _

The words, though spoken by one of his favorite people in the world, still made his heart drop into his intestines. Caleb turned to see the small mousey face of a malnourished 12-year-old beaming at him from the other side of the counter. He looked around quickly to make sure his coworkers had everything else handled, then hurried over, leaning over to the girl so he could speak quietly.

“Nott, dear, why aren’t you at school?” He tried to keep his voice firm, but it only came out as worried.

“I left,” She said, sounding proud of herself, “Some of the other kids were being mean- so I walked away! Just like you told me to.”

“Nott,” Caleb grimaced a little, and the girl’s face fell. She looked to her feet.

“I don’t like school, dad,” She muttered, “I want you to keep teaching me yourself.”

“I know, but,” Caleb gave a nervous glance back over his shoulder, then back to Nott, “Honey, you know I can’t. I want us to be able to eat. And have a nice place to live. I can’t get us to that point if I’m not working. You know full well if I could do that and still teach you myself, I would.”

“It’s stupid,” Nott huffed, “And school is even worse. Everyone’s so mean…”

“I know, I’m sorry… you just need to be better than them, alright?” Caleb said, then straightened, “How did you get here, anyways? Did you really walk this entire way?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t that hard,” Nott shrugged, rocking on her heels.

“Eurgh… alright, well….” Caleb rubbed his brow, “I can’t take you back right now, so.. just stick around the mall until noon, alright? I’ll drive you back during my lunch.”

Nott brightened immediately, “Alright!” 

“Don’t get into trouble! Please--” Caleb tried to call after her, but she was gone faster than he could get the words out. He let out a lengthy sigh and massaged his eyes. “Please don’t let her get in trouble..” He muttered to himself before turning back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

Mollymauk leaned against the back of the worn checkout booth, sighing a little as he watched the few customers mull around the shop. He was... bored.  _ So _ bored. For the first hour or so of the day he’d just thrived off the dead expression the barista had given him when he’d asked for something extra in his coffee- but even energy gained from being an asshole ran out eventually. Now he was stuck suffering through the infinite drudgery that was retail employment.

“Hey,” his coworker- a startlingly tall woman with skin paler than her white makeup and dark circles under her eyes to rival the barista’s- approached him. She crossed her arms and gave a stiff nod to one of the customers, “...do we know that one?”

Molly straightened, raising his brows a bit as he angled his neck better to try and see what she was talking about. The customer she’d indicated was a girl who could have been no older than thirteen, but looked skinny enough to possibly be as young as ten. He barely looked over in time to see the girl slip something small into her pocket.

“Not that I know of,” Molly muttered, sounding more curious than concerned that the girl had pocketed something, “...she taken anything else?”

“A few things,” the woman watched the girl with him, “nothing too expensive, though.”

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Molly waved a dismissive hand. His coworker sighed.

“Right. Sure. Coming out of your check, not mine.”

Molly ignored the last part and slipped out into the shelves. He did his best to look busy fixing the arrangement of a few t-shirts as he watched the girl out of the corner of his eye. She was good. Each time she took something, he barely managed to catch sight of it. He turned a little more towards her, and continued to watch. After a few tense moments, he saw her hand quickly dart out.

“Ah, ah-” He breathed, leaning down towards the girl, startling her and making her jump back, “Those have magnetic sensors in them. Walk through the door with that, and it’ll start beeping like crazy.”

The girl eyed him like a prey animal eyes a predator. She froze in place, quickly sizing Molly up and calculating the fastest way out of the store. Before she tried to bolt, Molly held out his arms in a disarming fashion, “You don’t need to look at me like that! I used to do it too. You’re very good, actually.”

The girl didn’t seem to trust his demeanor, her eyes still flicking between him and the door, but she let out a few quiet words, 

“There’s lots of pretty things here.”

“Oh yeah,” He gave her a crooked grin, “And some weird stuff too. Wanna see my favourite thing?”

He didn’t wait for her to answer, just turned to the shelves next to him and plucked off a single item. He turned back to her, showing her what he had. It was a combination pair of gloves and fishnet sleeves. The fishnet was an obnoxious rainbow color, and the gloves were cheap pleather and covered in aluminum spikes.

“They’re just so absolutely terrible. I love them. I think I own three.”

The girl’s expression went from afraid, to confused, then to hardly restrained amusement.

“You’re…..pretty weird.” She finally giggled.

“Oh that’s nothing,” Molly smirked, “You should see my face! Er- without the makeup I mean.”

“You can’t show her your tattoo.” The woman called from the cash register, not even bothering to look at Molly as she spoke.

“And why not? You’re not my boss!” Molly retorted. The girl relaxed, seeming to be enjoying the exchange. The woman just grunted in response.

“The grumpy one back there is Yasha,” Molly jabbed a thumb back at the towering woman, “I’m Molly. What’s your name?”

“ ‘m Nott.” The girl put her hands into her hoodie pocket and rocked a bit on her heels. Molly sat on one of the t-shirt table displays, flipping his purple hair out of his hair.

“Nice to meet you, Nott. Where are you from? It’s unusual for someone your age to be around this time of day. Do you go to school?”

“Oh, um..” Nott looked at the floor, “Yeah, I guess. I don’t like it though. That’s why I’m here.”

“Playin’ hookie!” Molly sounded almost gleeful, “That’s fantastic!”

“Yeah, but Dad’s gonna take me back at lunch,” She mumbled, kicking the corner of one of the stands lightly- not enough to move it, just enough to express her frustration.

“Oh, is he? Where’s he at?”

“Work.” Nott started to look uncomfortable again, and shifted her weight from one side to the other.

“Ah, well, you can hang out here until then!” Molly chuckled, “ ‘long as you don’t stuff any more in your pockets, I can even show you how to play poker or something.”

“Molly, you can’t-” Yasha tried to interrupt, but Molly quieted her with a wave of his hand.

“It’s better than her wandering around alone, right?” He looked at Yasha pointedly. Yasha let out another drawn-out sigh.

“Why must you adopt everything that walks through the door…”

***

Caleb hurried out the employee door and into the food court, looking around. It was a couple of minutes past noon, and he didn’t see Nott anywhere. Though it wasn’t necessarily unusual for her to be a bit late, he never liked when he didn’t know where she was. And in a mall, with so many potential… distractions…

What he really wished was that he could afford a phone for the both of them. At least then he would be able to call her… but his meager budget barely funded the tracfone in his pocket, and food was a bigger priority.

He was turning to the doors, thinking maybe she had gone out to the car to wait, when he heard the voice behind him.

“There! That’s him. I’m fine now, thank you!” 

Caleb turned to find Nott hurrying to him, and the annoying man from this morning close behind. Caleb’s frown deepened immediately, and he wrapped a protective arm around Nott as she hugged him around the waist.

“Oh, she’s yours?” Molly stopped a couple yards away, slipping his hands into his pockets, “I’ll admit, didn’t expect that.”

“Nott,” Caleb said quietly, not taking his eyes off of Molly, “What were you doing with him?”

Nott chuckled, “We played cards! He let me hang out in his store. He even showed me how to use the register!”

“Caught her slipping a few items from the shelves,” Molly admitted, watching Caleb with curiosity, “Figured it’d be better to let her stick around and have some fun rather than kick her out and get her in trouble.”

Though he didn’t quite trust the man, Caleb couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief wash over him. “Thank you… I… Appreciate it. Molly, wasn’t it?”

“Yes!” The man responded brightly, flashing what seemed to be his signature wide grin, “You remembered!”

“Yes,” Caleb sighed a bit, “Thank you for keeping an eye on her. Now, Nott… Let’s get going, alright?”

“..aww..” Nott’s face fell, but she fell in step with Caleb anyways. As they walked, she looked back, and called to Molly, “You still owe me twenty dollars! Say bye to Yasha for me!”

Molly snickered a little, waving to her, “Goodbye, Nott.”


	3. Chapter 3

Caleb grimaced a bit as his car shuddered to a stop, trying to ignore the sounds the engine was making. Hopefully the car could last a few more years, as right now it was both his only means of transport, and his home. The 70’s Hearse had not been the most well-maintained car when it had been passed along to him, and he hadn’t exactly had the money to improve the record. It was all he could do to keep the thing from literally falling apart on the highways. As annoying as it was, however, he was not in least bit ungrateful for the small amount of protection from the elements it afforded himself and Nott during the night. It was the best he could do to hope that it would last long enough for him to be able to afford a small apartment. He was getting closer, now, finally. Getting the job at the coffee shop had been a huge step forward. Now he had enough hours that he was finally starting to be able to set some small amount of money aside. It wasn’t much, but in just a few more years, hopefully….

“Dad!” 

Nott’s voice tore him out of his reflection, and he smiled, watching the small girl clamber into the car.

“How was the rest of the day?” He asked watching her ditch her backpack immediately and pull on her seatbelt.

“Absolutely terrible,” She replied without hesitation, “Can we not ever do it again? Please?”

“You know if I could keep teaching you, I would,” Caleb sighed, and ruffled Nott’s hair tenderly before turning the keys and starting the car’s rumbling engine once more. 

“So, where do we want to park tonight?”

“Can we go to that one park? The one with all the trees?” Nott asked hopefully, “It doesn’t have as many lights…”

“I don’t know, it’s a bit further out, that will take more gas…” Caleb started, but his voice trailed off once he saw Nott’s face fall even more, “Ah, why not? Can’t hurt to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Yeah!” Nott perked back up immediately, grinning, showing her crooked teeth. Caleb turned away so he could pull out of the parking spot, his heart aching a bit. What he wouldn’t do to make sure that Nott could have a happy life. She deserved so much more than he could offer her.

An hour or so later, the two of them were parked off the road a ways, in a tiny lot that was surrounded by trees. It was out of the way enough that they’d never been bothered there before, but it took a while to get there, so it wasn’t always an option. Caleb was happy to see that Nott was enjoying it, though, and listened quietly as she rambled about her day.

“-so then she tried to take my pencil bag, and tried to tell the teacher that I stole it from her-Which I DIDN’T- I wouldn’ take anything from her gross things- but the teacher believed me and made her give it back- but then she got all mad because it didn’t work- so that’s when I left and walked and came to see you and then went and stayed with Molly and Yasha, and-”

“That’s right,” Caleb finally interrupted, “What were you doing with them? Molly mentioned you tried to take something?”

Nott’s expression immediately turned sheepish. “I- I couldn’t help it…”

“I know, I understand, but you need to be more careful,” Caleb chided her gently, “He saw you, which means he could have gotten you in very big trouble. I don’t want you to be taken away from me…”

“He said he only saw because he used to do it too! He told me,” Nott retorted, suddenly defiant, “He said I was very good at it. He even let me keep some of it!”

“He let you keep it?” Caleb replied, a bit surprised, but simultaneously not surprised at all, remembering the morning’s conversation with the man, “Well.. I need to you to be more careful all the same. While I’m glad he didn’t get you in trouble, I don’t really trust him. Do you know what he did this morning?”

Nott shook her head, looking a bit confused.

“He asked me for  _ drugs _ in his coffee,” Caleb replied, “..I’m not sure I feel comfortable having you alone with someone like that.”

“Oh! That was you?!” Nott, instead of displaying the hoped for serious response, seemed amused, “Molly told me he likes ‘fucking with tired people’ and that your face was the best one he’d seen all week.”

“He--” Caleb practically choked, “I-- that, still, I- Nott, please don’t say fuck.”

“Ok, dad,” She said, then went back to gnawing on the day-old pastries that were dinner. Caleb sighed deeply, massaging his temples. Parenting was hard…

 

***

 

Most of the reason Nott liked when they parked this far out was because it was easier to sleep. There were no big parking lot lights, and they were usually alone, so it was nice and quiet. When they parked in the little wood lot, she liked to pretend that she and Caleb were some kind of adventurers, living in the woods and living off the land, scaring away their problems with knives and magic. She dreamed about that a lot. She wished she didn’t have to go to school, she wished she didn’t have to always worry about getting taken from Caleb, she wished she could sleep at night without worrying if someone saw her. She missed living out of a tent with him a little, when he’d tell her all about history and math and science and reading, but it was nice that they had a little more food now. But Caleb was so much more tired now, and Nott was a little worried. She didn’t want him to ever get so stressed that he ended up like… THAT again. She could see his tired looks, the bags under his eyes… she wished that for once he could just get to be really, really happy.

That’s part of what made the sounds that woke her up so awful.

 

“Get out of the car!! Get out of the fucking car!!” The shouts were terrible, and Nott made a bit of a panicked sound as she sat upright. 

“Nott! Stay down! Hide!” Caleb choked. He had his hands in the air, and was slowly moving his way out of the car. The inside of the vehicle was being illuminated by flashing red and blue lights, and everywhere Nott turned, there were guns pointed at them.

“D-Dad?!” She stammered, then yelped as the back of the hearse was forced open and Caleb was dragged roughly from the vehicle and thrown on the ground. Another gun was pointed at her, and Nott started choking out fearful sobs.   
“He’s got a little girl!” The officer shone a flashlight into her eyes, and she felt hands tugging her out of the car, “Come on, you’re going to be safe!”

“Caleb!” She shrieked instead, and tried to get to the one person she cared about in the world, who was currently being kicked, beaten, and cuffed on the ground.   
“Just go! Go!” Caleb finally managed to choke out past a mouthful of dirt and blood, “Go! Run!”

And so that’s what Nott did. Nott pulled away from the officers, darted to the edge of the clearing.

And she ran.

 

***

 

Molly wandered into work earlier than usual the next morning, looking a touch disappointed. He’d hoped to bother that barista again, but when he’d gone to the coffee stand, it hadn’t even been open. There had been a couple other confused customers mulling around, wondering what was going on, and no sign of Caleb. 

“You’re early,” Yasha commented, glancing up from the register, “And by early, I mean, on time.”

Molly let out a long sigh, “Nothing better to do than get to work, I guess.”

Yasha snorted, then went back to focusing on the register. Molly hovered around the store, inspecting the various shelves, already feeling the boredom creeping up. Then, he froze, hearing quickly approaching small footsteps and choking sobs. He quickly turned his head and was greeted by the sight of Nott stumbling into the store. She was an absolute mess- her already mousey hair was full of knots and twigs, she was covered in mud and dirt, and her clothing was ripped in several places. Worse of all, she was missing one of her shoes, and the foot seemed to be bleeding. Molly immediately rushed over.

“What happened? What’s going on?” He said, all of his standoffish demeanor immediately dissolving at the sight of her.

“Th-they took Caleb!” Nott shook and shook, “The police took ‘m, we weren’t doing anything wrong!! They took him, and he tol’ me to run and I ran and I didn’t know where to go except here, an- they were chasing me, but I ran into the woods- it was so scary I’m so scared I cant let them take Caleb!”

“Shh shh shh, come here,” Molly gathered her into his arms and picked her up, his heart racing, “Yasha, I’m going to-”

“Just go. I’ve got the store.” She said calmly. Though she was as stoic as ever, her eyes betrayed her concern. Molly gave a quick, grateful nod, and hurried out of the store, carrying Nott.

“Tell me everything. What did you see? Was he… Doing anything? Why were the police there?”

“I dunno,” Nott choked back, clinging to Molly. She had nothing else she  _ could  _ do right now, “H-he-- I mean, he used to do stuff. When we firs’ met, he’d overdosed on something… but he doesn’t do that anymore! We were just sleeping, and they pulled him out o-of the car, and they were  _ kicking _ him a-and..” She just broke down again, not able to say anything more.

“Shh shh shh, I’ve got you,” Molly rubbed her on the back, carefully taking her through a door and out to a parking lot. He brought her to a 70s Volkwagon Van, and set her on the bumper. He unlocked the door and pulled out a surprisingly large first aid kit. “Let’s take care of your foot first, then we’ll work on getting Caleb. I’ve got some friends in the station, so we’ll get it figured out, alright?” 

Nott sniffed, and wiped her face on her muddy sleeve. “C-Caleb said you do drugs, though… won’t they take you too?”

Molly blinked a bit, then laughed, “Oh, don’t worry. They like me. I help ‘em out every now and then, so they leave me alone most of the time. Don’t worry, if he didn’t do anything wrong, then he didn’t. We’ll figure it out, ok?”

“..ok..” Nott replied quietly. She was still shaking. As helpful as Molly was being, she was still so scared. She was so afraid Caleb was gone for good.   
  
***   
  
Caleb had had a shit night, to put it lightly. He could not stop pacing in his tiny cell, heart racing. When they finally told him what he was being accused of, he had nearly passed out. The police had been acting on a tip on a serial killer, and apparently, they’d found a pair of bodies not too far from where he was parked.  He was now on high lock up. There was no way he could afford a lawyer, and he had no idea if they’d found Nott or not. He had no way of getting out of this one…

That made the next face he saw just as unexpected.

“Well don’t you look charming,” Molly smirked. His curly purple hair was up even more now, halfway to a mohawk, and his face was practically half piercings. The other half was taken up by the most ridiculously showy peacock feather that sprawled from his cheek down his neck and disappeared beneath his collar- something that must have been covered in makeup the last time he’d seen him.

“What… are..” Caleb barely managed to eke out hoarsely, “How?”

“Reminded these fellas of the cameras in the area. You’re cleared,” Molly replied, and though his grin was as wide as usual, his smile did not reach his eyes, “Lucky for you, they trust me.”

“...really,” Caleb managed to conjure enough disbelief in his tone to make Molly give a genuine chuckle.

“Really,” Molly smirked. And weirdly enough, he seemed to be right. Though it took a good amount of paperwork and time, eventually Caleb was allowed to leave with Molly.   
“You’re still on probation, you’re car’s locked up, and they’re still looking for your girl, but this is a start,” Molly said by way of explanation after they were further away from the station. Noting Caleb’s wince, Molly patted him on the back, “Hey, don’t look like that! I just said THEY’re still looking for her.”

“What do you-” Caleb started, then stopped immediately after hearing a faint sound from the van ahead of them.

“Not too loud,” Molly winked, “wait until we’re away from the station. Then you can thank me.”

“Not to sound ungrateful or anything,” Caleb was so full of anxious energy he was practically vibrating. Nott! Nott! He’d heard Nott in the van! “But, who the  _ fuck _ are you?!”

“A friend,” Molly grinned, and this time it reached all the way up to the corners of his eyes, “Now come on! If you don’t get in there soon, I think she’ll quite literally explode.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok we're ramping it UP a little bit!! Heck yeah heck yeah heck yeah  
> THANK Y'ALL FOR THE COMMENTS I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN A LONG TIME AND THEY'RE REALLY BOOSTING MY MOOD Y'ALL ARE THE BEST


	4. Chapter 4

“I’m so proud of you,” Caleb had not let go of Nott the entire Van ride; not that Nott had tried to escape his grasp. To the contrary, she was clinging to him even more tightly than he was, and was shaking with sobs again. The inside of the van was… not as Caleb had expected. He’d sort of thought it was going to be true to the year of the car’s make- full of shag carpeting and heavily pot-scented. But instead, the back of the van was _armored._ And only vaguely pot-scented. Caleb was half worried that Molly was just taking him straight from one lockup to another.

“You did very good. You ran away.”

“I was so scared, Caleb!” She wailed, her tears staining the front of his shirt.

“Shhh shhh, it’s done now…. I’m here.”

The Van made a quick turn, and then puttered to a stop. Molly poked his ostentatious head around the front seat, looking back at his two passengers, “Alright! We’re here!”

“..Where is here?” Caleb asked cautiously, looking up at the very odd man who had, for reasons he could not comprehend, come to his rescue.

“Home!” Molly chuckled, then got out of the car. He went around and opened the van door to let Caleb and Nott step out. 

“Figured you two would need a place to chill and figure stuff out for a bit,” Molly shrugged, “My place is as good as any for that sort of thing.”

“..Thank you,” Caleb said, keeping hold of Nott’s hand as he slipped out and glanced around. They were at an apartment complex- one that Caleb recognized as being one of the cheapest in town. He’d been considering it, once he had the money for a place. Molly locked up his van, and then led them through a couple hallways until they reached a door that was severely water damaged, with paint peeling from the corners. Molly whistled nonchalantly to himself,and unlocked the door. He opened to reveal an apartment that was honestly a lot neater-kept than Caleb expected. It was still a bit cluttered, but the carpets seemed to be fairly clean, if nothing else. He couldn’t keep from coughing a bit as the heavy scent of incense hit his nostrils.

“Hey! Beau!” Molly called, leading the two into the room, “We’ve got company!”

“Hhmmm?” There was a tired yawn, and as Caleb and Nott walked in, they saw a confused-looking woman sprawled across the couch, wearing sweats and a poorly-kept tank top.

“Oh man, did you adopt more people?”

“I didn’t  _ adopt _ them,” Molly said, a touch of irritation in his voice, “I’m HELPING them.”

“Mm. Right.” The woman snorted, turning her attention back to the television. 

“Make yourselves at home,” Molly huffed a bit, “Let me know if you need anything.”   
“Right,” Caleb nodded, feeling a little lost. Then his heart sank a bit, remembering something, “..Actually, could I borrow a phone?”

Molly pulled his phone from his pocket and passed it over. “Code is 1134.” 

“Thanks,” Caleb took it, and stepped back out of the apartment, into the hallway. It took a couple tries to remember, but eventually he got it right.   
“Hey Boss, I-” He grimaced, the immediate response already not promising, “I know, I know. I couldn’t call- no, I legitimately couldn’t. No, I-- the police station, sir. No, not like that. I didn’t, but they thought I-- Yes, I know. I’m aware but-- please, another chance? This was the only time- Sir, I--”   
He winced as his boss hung up on the other line.

Shit. 

Shit shit  _ shit shit shit _ …...

There went his one chance to make things right… to help Nott, to maybe have a home…

Damn it all, couldn’t he ever get a break!?

He couldn’t keep the tears from pouring from his eyes now, so he just started walking. He’d been a fool to think he deserved to be happy. He’d been getting his hopes up for no reason. He wasn’t allowed to succeed. He didn’t deserve any of it. Not after all of the stupid crap he’d pulled. He shouldn’t even be  _ alive _ . If Nott hadn’t found him, he’d be a happy rotting corpse in the ground. Fuck, if only he could taste oblivion like that again…

...No. No, he couldn’t let himself go there again. Nott. Nott. He had to focus on Nott.

But he’d just ruined things for her too, didn’t he? He’d told her to run from the police. Now if they ever did find her again, she’d be taken away immediately. She’d be shuttled off to foster care, like she was before. She’d be passed from house to house, maybe even beaten again…   
Caleb clenched his fists, stopping at the edge of the apartments. It was in the middle of the afternoon, a time that just felt wrong for feeling as awful as he did. He choked a bit on his tears, feeling a twinge on the inside of his elbow. What he wouldn’t fucking give for just a taste, a moment of  _ nothing…. _

__ “Hey,” the quiet voice made Caleb jump, and he whipped around to find Molly watching him with an unreadable expression. Caleb turned away again quickly, wiping his eyes and trying to regain his composure.   
“Hey, sorry, I-I’ll just be a moment.”   
“Take what time you need,” Molly said simply, slipping his hands into his pockets. He didn’t leave. Caleb waited for him to walk off, then eventually gave up and started moving away himself. Much to his chagrin, Molly followed.

“I don’t need you.. _ hovering, _ ” Caleb croaked, doing his best to convey his frustration through his tears.

“Sorry, but I know the look,” Molly replied with the slightest sad smile, “Pretty sure if I walk away right now, you won’t ever be walking back. So, unfortunately for you, I’m gonna be stuck on your ass like white on rice until I’m sure you aren’t going to try anything stupid.”

Caleb felt sick. Molly had read him like a book. He hated every moment of this. He rounded on Molly, “Why the hell does it matter to you? I’ve known you for what-- a  _ day?!  _ Why won’t you leave me alone!”

The words stung Caleb more than they seem to affect Molly. Caleb knew Molly had done nothing but help, but he couldn’t keep himself from lashing out. He had little left he could do, and he just desperately didn’t want to trust anything that could possibly let him down any further. Molly, surprisingly, didn’t get mad. He didn’t leave, he didn’t look upset. He gave Caleb a look that spoke multitudes more than he probably meant it to.

“How about you come have some dinner? Some food will help,” Molly replied simply. And it was enough. Caleb’s shoulders sagged and he let out one last choked sob before he began to make his way back towards the apartment. Molly waited until he’d passed, then reached out, rubbing Caleb’s back as they walked together towards the place.   
“You’re alright. Now come on- let’s try and get back before Beau starts to corrupt Nott.”   
***   
Three years ago, Caleb did not have to worry about food. Caleb did not have to worry about where to sleep. Three years ago, Caleb was about as happy and content as a man could be.

“Professor Widogast…?” 

Caleb looked up to see one of his students standing in the doorway of the classroom.   
“Ah, Fjord! Here for office hours?”

“Er, yeah, uh..” The taller man rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish, “I honestly have no idea what any of this last chapter’s about. I’m a bit lost.”

“Well, I’m happy to help,” Caleb sat up in his chair and gestured to the seat across from him. The man shuffled into the seat and laid his book on the desk, already open to the current lesson. “Did you get anything from the last lecture?”

“I mean,” Fjord cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed, “I got the parts with, like… the actual story and stuff. I just don’t get any of this interpretation of it.”

Caleb was about to open his mouth and explain, but Fjord kept talking.

“I mean, I get that there’s supposed to be some big comparison about the fall of mankind or whatever, but to me it just seems like they’re talking about the end of their own ‘world’, you know? Like, Metaphorically..”

Caleb blinked, then seemed a bit amused, “I think you have more of a grasp on the chapter than you thought.”

For the next hour or so, Caleb worked to prod Fjord’s observations into something resembling a solid paper, then sent him on his way. No one else showed up for office hours (most of the time, no one did) so Caleb decided to slip out a little earlier than he usually did. There was no harm in that, right?   
So Caleb stepped out to cross the street towards his car, and then he stopped remembering much of anything at all.

 

Several agonizing hours of pain and blurred movement passed through his mind before he woke up again. The injuries had been intense, the surgeons told him, but he’d survive. He would need to undergo some physical therapy, and he’d be on some pretty strong painkillers for the first few weeks.

Caleb handled the pain alright at first, but when it began to drag on the corners of everything he did- tugging him down and needling at his gut- he began to relish the moments when it was time for him to take another pill. Each dose meant a brief respite. Eventually, the physical pain faded, and the medication ran out. All was fine, until one evening a migraine shot through his head. A well-meaning friend offered some of the medication that had been just lovely before, and he’d accepted.

Caleb, looking back, now recognized this as a turning point. Weaker medications were not enough at that point, and as he grew more distant from his work and from his life, he turned further and further towards escaping into a mindless oblivion whenever anything- ANYTHING hurt.   
It took less time than he’d realized to lose his job, his home, his car- everything he had. He narrowly avoided arrest on several occasions. Then one night, in a dark back alley, he took a little too much. He should have died on that greasy mattress, with a tourniquet on his arm and a needle in his hand…

But he didn’t.

A little girl, only ten at the time, had come across him not too long after. Nott, recognizing his state, got help. Nott had just run away from the last of many foster homes, and just happened to be passing the alley he’d been shooting up in when he collapsed. If it weren’t for her, he WOULD be dead. 

Nott was returned to the foster home after the emergency services arrived. Caleb sought her out as soon as he left the hospital to thank her, and found her in a situation that was nearly as dire as his had been. It took work, but eventually he was able to get her out through less than legal means. From that point, it was the two of them against the world. After being on the streets for a while, they managed to get their hands on a vehicle, and eventually Caleb even managed to get a job. It seemed like it was finally getting ok again.

That was why going to jail and losing his job was such a blow. He’d been trying to do everything the right way, and still he just got knocked down again. He’d been being good, he’d been working so hard. He’d been sending Nott to school and getting her fed and was going to get a home so she could finally sleep in the same place every night…

Molly was definitely right. If he’d left Caleb at that moment, Caleb wouldn’t have come back. He was just so tired. But Molly hadn’t left. Something about Molly’s expression told him that Molly knew exactly the feeling Caleb was having. And Molly stayed.

It really was curious what an affect a single person could have on his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a heavier chapter, but a needed one. If any of you are feeling out like this- don't be afraid to reach out. There's always something else to keep going for.


	5. Chapter 5

Molly watched Caleb and Nott wolf down their dinner like starving… Well, wolves. 

“Eat as much as you want,” Molly mused, though it hardly needed saying, “Pasta’s cheap, and I get paid tomorrow.” He watched the two closely, partially just making sure that they didn’t choke at the rate they were eating.    
“Thank you,” Caleb finally managed to get out after swallowing a particularly large mouthful of noodles, “Really… thank you.”   
“ ‘course,” Molly shrugged, “Now, I know it’s not the best, but you’ve got the couch here to sleep on for as long as you need it. We’ve got an air mattress we can pull out of the closet for Nott.”   
Caleb wiped his mouth, and looked at Molly in the eyes, the disbelief apparent in his voice, “I-alright? You know, you really make me nervous with all this.” 

“Don’t be,” Beau said, yawning a bit as she shambled into the kitchen, cutting off whatever Molly had been about to say in response, “Hard to believe, but this asshole pulls this crap all the time. He will never admit it, but if you walk up to him looking remotely upset enough, he’ll adopt you immediately.”

“I will  _ not _ ,” Molly protested.

“What about that girl? With the braids and green hair?” Beau didn’t even look as she replied, rummaging through the fridge for a drink.   
“She was in a bad situation! Her boyfriend was abusing her, and-”

“And the other little girl? The twelve year old from like a month ago- what was her name… Toya?”

“Her stepdad was a  _ murderer, _ ” Molly grumbled, “You’d have to be heartless to leave her in that place!”

Beau snagged a can of generic brand cola and popped the can open, turning to Molly as she took a quick sip, “And what about that really old guy, the one with the weird eyeball?”

“It was a glass eye, and he just needed a place for a couple of days so he could find a job,” Molly huffed defensively, though he was aware that at this point he’d already lost the argument, “Stop looking so smug. I  _ will _ kick you off the lease.”

Beau chuckled, “Sure thing, Molly.”

Caleb couldn’t help but smile a little at the exchange. The fact that he was in a line of many actually helped him feel a bit better about the whole thing, and less worried about being a potential victim of some awful scheme.

At that point in time, the door to the apartment opened again, and in came a tall, pale woman whom Caleb had never seen before. Nott, on the other hand, quickly swallowed the bite she’d taken and happily called out, “Yasha!”

The woman looked over, surprise flashing across her face for just a moment before it settled into a knowing look.   
“Adopted another couple of people, did you?” She asked Molly, who just threw up his hands with a frustrated noise, and stomped out of the kitchen towards what was presumably his bedroom. Beau snickered, setting down her can of soda.   
“About time you got home,” She approached Yasha. The two of them embraced briefly, and Yasha gently kissed the top of Beau’s head before breaking away to inspect dinner herself.   
“Yeah, had to smooth things over with Gustav, since Molly skipped out early,” Yasha sighed a little, “...luckily he understood. Kinda hard to say no when there was a kid involved, you know?”

“Right,” Beau nodded, going back to the counter and leaning against it, retrieving her soda.

“Do you all live here too?” Nott piped in with the question, kicking her feet as she sat on top of the stool.

“Yeah,” Yasha turned around after fishing a fork from one of the drawers next to the stove, and started eating. She glanced at Caleb, and waved her fork at him, asking through a mouthful of food, “I know the kid. Who’re you?”

“Caleb,” He said, watching her cautiously, “And who are you?”

She raised a brow, “.....Yasha. Like the kid just said a moment before. You’re her dad?”

“Yes,” He replied immediately, then corrected himself, “Well, sort of. Adoptive father.”

“I saved his life! And he saved mine. So he’s my dad now,” Nott said by way of explanation. 

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s… normally how that works,” Yasha said with a level of tired sarcasm which could only be achieved by her rumbling voice plus the dark circles under her eyes.

“Molly’s letting them stay for a bit,” Beau added, nodding to the two. Yasha nodded, understanding.

“Alright, now, if someone wants to HELP me with this, that would be lovely,” Molly said, re-entering as he dragged some kind of box into the living room.

“I’ll help,” Caleb chuckled softly, and got up to assist Molly with wrangling the air mattress. It was odd, but he felt almost at home here. It was… nice. In the past hour, though he hadn’t said much, Molly had just helped him feel like he was supposed to be there. He had tasked Caleb with helping to prepare the food, and between that and the light banter between Molly and Beau, he’d been able to just relax. Even now, as they tried to decipher the instructions for the air mattress, and worked to patch the few holes with duct tape, he felt safer than he had in years. But still, there was that itch in the back of his mind, the ever present anxiety that reminded him over and over  _ don’t get your hopes up. This will end, this will turn out bad. In the end, they will leave, he will leave, and you’ll be alone. _

Caleb wished he could get rid of that voice. But it was going to take a long time for him to be able to trust his luck ever again. For now, he’d enjoy his time here, and work to get to a better place again. But he wasn’t going to let himself hope, because to hope was to set himself for something truly awful. And he wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again.

 

***

 

“Dad… Dad? Dad!” 

Caleb groaned as small hands shook him awake, “Hmmwha? I… Nott, what’s going on?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be going to work?” Nott’s face frowned down at him. She was standing next to him as he slept on the couch. Caleb sighed, closing his eyes briefly again. He’d forgotten to tell her.

“No, I… I’m not,”

“You have the day off? Why didn’t you tell me!”

“No, Nott,” Caleb sat up, trying to keep his voice quiet. He glanced at the clock on the microwave in the kitchen- it was about seven in the morning. The apartment was still.

“I was let go.” He told her, turning his gaze back towards her.

“You  were fired?” Her face fell a little, “Was it because of the police thing?”

“In a way, yes…” Caleb said, his voice tired, “Since I didn’t tell them I wasn’t coming in, they did not have anyone to run the store, and that is bad. So…. I was fired.”

“That’s not fair,” Nott said, her voice tinged with hurt, and worse, acceptance. She and Caleb had been through a few similar situations.   
“Not much is,” Caleb admitted, but reached out and ruffled her hair tenderly, “But hey, I’m not still in jail. And that’s something.”

Nott nodded a little, seeming thoughtful. There was a brief silence while Caleb rubbed his eyes and tried to come to consciousness. Nott sat on top of his legs on the couch, and watched him. After a bit, she spoke again.

“So, are we gonna go back to what we were doing before?”

Caleb made a bit of a face, “not if I can help it… If we can avoid selling fake IDs again, that would be... preferable.”

“There was the sticker thing we did,” She offered, “With cars?”

“That was mostly to keep our own car from being noticed,” Caleb admitted, “And…. we don’t have a car, now, either.”

Nott’s shoulders slumped, and she looked to the floor, “I’m sorry…. This is my fault. I asked if we could stay at the tree place… If we hadn’t been there, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Caleb gave her a startled look, “It’s not your fault! You couldn’t have guessed that would happen. The fact that it did is…” he trailed off, unsure what to call it. No matter how jaded he was, waking up next to a murder scene was never a soothing experience. Then, he perked, “Plus, you of all people should be excited. This means I get to be your teacher today, instead!”

Indeed, that immediately made Nott brighten. She scrambled off of his lap, “I need paper! And a pencil!”

A couple of hours later, the front door opened and Molly walked into the apartment. Molly glanced over to find Nott happily chattering away and writing things as Caleb patiently worked on teaching her a few things. Molly, though pleased by the sight, was happy that they were too distracted to pay him much mind as he slipped into the kitchen and opened the freezer to fish out an ice pack. Once the pack was retrieved, he turned and found himself suddenly face to face with Caleb.

“Hey, I wanted to-”

“Fucking- shit-!!” Molly jumped about a foot, nearly punching Caleb and definitely dropping the ice pack, causing a startled Caleb to step back quickly as well.

“S-sorry!” Caleb stammered, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender.   
“Ach, don’t sneak up on me,” Molly snapped a bit back, quickly picking up the ice pack. He turned away, “Sorry, don’t mean t’ be hostile, just- FUCK you walk silently,”

“I- sorry about that- are you… alright?” Caleb’s eyes roamed across the man that was usually so calm. Molly’s clothes, though… odd, were usually kept in good condition. Today, they were torn in several places, covered in mud, and in some places, spattered with something darker.

“M’ fine,” Molly muttered, sighing a bit. He turned his head a bit more towards Caleb, but not the entire way, like he was hiding something.

“Let me see,” Caleb said firmly, now taking the ice pack from Molly’s hand as he inspected the other man. Molly protested and tried to twist away, but wasn’t willing to hurt Caleb, so eventually he had to reveal the other side of his face.

Caleb let out a low whistle, “That’s a good one. Who gave you that?”

“Today’s skip,” Molly said bitterly, finally allowing Caleb to hold the ice pack to the eye for him.

“...Skip?” Caleb asked, looking for other things that needed to be taken care of, “You should probably take off your jacket.”

“I’m not taking it off,” Molly grumbled, “And yeah, skip. That’s what you call the people I go after,”

“I thought you worked at Hot Topic?”

“Part time,” Molly shrugged, “The employee discount is nice.”

Caleb shook his head incredulously. “So, skips.. You’re…. A debt collector?”

Molly barked a bit of a laugh, “Close. Bounty hunter.”

Caleb stopped, the ice pack moving away from Molly’s eye as he stared at him, “You  _ can’t  _ be serious.”

“Oh, I’m serious,” Molly clicked his tongue, “Yasha’s on the team too. She’s bringing in today’s nasty. Though, she kicked me out here first, so I could clean up a little.”

“..huh.” Caleb returned the ice pack to Molly’s eye, falling silent. He kept being surprised over and over by this one. They stood there in silence for a little bit, the moment growing a little awkward between them. Eventually Caleb spoke up again.   
“You really should take that jacket off. There’s something bleeding on your arm that needs to be cleaned.”

“I don’t  _ want _ to take my jacket off,” Molly quipped, “I think it’s doing a good job keeping the blood in by itself.”

“Not good enough if you’re still bleeding, now, come on,” Caleb used his one free hand to try and tug at the lapel of Molly’s jacket, trying to get it free of him. Molly, in turn, tried to struggle away from Caleb, which was surprisingly difficult in the small kitchen.

“Agh! Come on! I’m  _ helping _ you!” 

“I don’t need help! I am fine! I do this all the time!”

“Well too bad, I--”

Both men froze as the front door opened again.

“Hey guys, I- whoa,” Beau came in and froze immediately at the sight of Caleb halfway through pulling Molly’s coat off while pressing him firmly against the kitchen counter.

Beau IMMEDIATELY broke into giggles, “WHoopsie, ah, I’ll let you two have fun! Bye!” and she turned right back around and closed the door behind her.

“Beau, It’s not what it looks like!!” Molly called after her as Caleb used the distraction to finally tug the Jacket off of him. He set the jacket to the side on the counter and pulled Molly’s arm to the sink.

“Hey! Ow!”

“We’re cleaning it. Hold still,” Caleb said firmly, and Molly finally shut up, still blushing at Beau’s intrusion. Caleb was blushing as well, but was doing his best to hide it.

“I take it they had a knife?”

“Oh, yeah,” Molly used his other hand to gesture the size of it, “It had to have been six inches!”

“Right.” Caleb seemed a bit amused.

“I’m telling the truth! I’m lucky my arm is all he got!”

“Right,” The corners of Caleb’s eyes crinkled a little, “it’s clean. Now, dry it off before you bandage it, alright?”

“Whatever,  _ Dad _ ,” Molly snarked back at him, grabbing his jacket and heading down the little hallway. Caleb watched him go with a faint smile still playing across his lips. He felt like, in some form, he’d paid him back for his help, just a little bit. And beneath that he felt…. Excited? But he wasn’t sure how to explain why, yet. So he pushed it to the back of his mind and headed back over to Nott, who was working on reading something.

He liked it here.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok y'all I gotta tell you that the first line of this chapter was almost _"Molly was a fucking cryptid and there was absolutely no other way Caleb could describe it."_ I sort of regret not using it but there you go.  
>  BIG MAJOR THANK YOU To my bounty hunter friends for letting me pester them with questions so I could write an accurate fanfic XD  
> AND THANK /YOU/ FOR READING THIS FIC, AND THANKS TO THOSE WHO ARE LEAVING KUDOS AND COMMENTING  
> You have been making my month absolutely lovely. Feel free to come visit me at battlefox.tumblr.com if you want to message my gay face directly and/or see some of my art!


	6. Chapter 6

The next couple of weeks were a blur for Caleb. He tried to spend most of it with Nott, getting back into the swing of tutoring her, as well as helping her recover from the shock of seeing him get taken by the police. He’d been called back to the police station once or twice, this time as a witness. Apparently he’d accidentally gotten himself roped into an investigation into a string of murders. Honestly, Caleb was surprised that they’d let him go. And that it wasn’t plastered all over the news. He-using Molly’s laptop- had even tried to look into it, but hadn't even found an entry in the police blotter in regards to the incident. It was all a little… off. But frankly, he didn't want to poke into it further. The last thing he needed was to get involved in some big conspiracy that would throw his and Nott’s lives into even further chaos. 

“You’re pretty good at all this computer research stuff,” Molly said casually, glancing over Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb jumped. It still threw him off just how quiet the other man could be sometimes.

“I don't know about that,” Caleb replied, trying to play off his surprise, “I just know how to use Google.”

Molly laughed a little bit, sauntering into the room. His arm was healing, and he’d patched up the eclectic jacket that he always wore, and washed out the blood. 

“...I’m sort of curious,” He settled into the couch next to Caleb, swinging his boots up onto the coffee table and idly crossing them, “Think you can find anything on Broly Higgins?”

“Broly Higgins? What kind of thing is that?”

“A person, and a misfortune of a name,” Molly quipped, “Go on, I’m curious.”

Caleb raised a single brow at the man, but went ahead and tried a quick google search. There was a bit- a few news reports about a robbery, and some other minor things.

“He is a thief.” Caleb looked at Molly. Molly rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I know THAT part. But what’s he doing? He still kicking it in town?”   
“How am I supposed to find that??” Caleb asked incredulously, then let out a frustrated grunt when Molly only shrugged in reply. Caleb shook his head and turned back to the computer. It took a bit of searching around and poking at various websites, but he eventually found some obscure local buy-and-sell facebook group that the guy was a part of.

“...Seems like he’s in town,” Caleb eventually piped up. Molly looked back over- he’d transitioned into staring idly at his phone. Molly blinked in surprise.

“Wait, really? You found him?”

“Yeah, he’s selling some random computer stuff online,” Caleb clicked on the post, scrolling through the images, “...Not even good computer stuff-Hey!”

Molly yanked the computer out of Caleb’s hands.

“You actually found the skip!” 

“It wasn’t that hard….” Caleb sounded a bit exasperated, “And- hang on, skip? You mean this is a guy you’ve been trying to hunt? You can’t be serious. You didn’t even look at facebook, did you?”

“Shut up,” Molly pulled out his phone, quickly typing in the number in the advertisement before clapping the phone to his ear and marching away with the laptop in his other hand, “Hello- yes? I am calling about the computer parts…”

“I can’t believe this,” Caleb shook his head a bit, glancing over to the air mattress where Nott was napping. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

Molly hurried back into the room, “You’re a lifesaver, Caleb!,” He started grabbing various things, including his keys, “I’ll be back!!”

“You know, you can just learn to google-” Caleb tried, but Molly was already out the door. Caleb shook his head.

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

 

***

 

“Molly’s gotten himself hurt again,” Beau said casually, slipping into her and Yasha’s room while slipping her phone back into her pocket.

“Mm. It’s what he gets for not taking me with him again,” Yasha glanced up from where she was lounging on the bed, reading a book, “Is he going to come back here?”

“Nah, he’s splurging on going to an urgent care this time,” Beau snorted, flopping onto the bed next to Yasha, “Something about not wanting to have Caleb tackling him again.”

Yasha’s lips curled into the slightest smirk at that, and she looked back to her book, continuing to read. Beau tugged her phone back out of the pocket of her sweats, and just lounged next to Yasha for a bit, scrolling through various social media websites. As she sat there, she gradually leaned less and less against the wall, and more and more on Yasha, until the back of her head was resting on Yasha’s shoulder. Yasha said nothing, just continued reading, seeming to ignore Beau. Beau eventually let out an overdramatic sigh.

“I’m bored.”

“Ah. That sucks.” Yasha replied, not even bothering to look at Beau. Beau sighed louder and more dramatically, tilting her head back to look at Yasha. Yasha continued to ignore her, turning the page.

“Oh no,” Beau said, shifting herself so she began to fall into Yasha’s lap, on top of her book, “Guess you can’t read- hey!”

Yasha had lifted her book from under Beau and set it on top of Beau’s face. Beau pouted from beneath the book, and let out a muffled “Come ooooooon..” but still received no reaction from Yasha. Beau reluctantly allowed herself to be a bookrest for a moment longer before slowly starting to move her head around, disturbing the position of the book.

Eventually Yasha lifted the book slightly, raising a brow at the pouting Beau. Yasha, despite her usual stoicism, couldn’t keep a small upturn from her lips as she asked, “Do you need something?”

“I need attention and a million dollars,” Beau said, looking up at Yasha. Yasha let out a slight chuckle.

“Well I can give you one of the two.” Yasha leaned down and gently pressed her lips to Beau’s. Beau reached up, linking her hands together behind Yasha’s neck, keeping her in place as she deepened the kiss. Yasha adjusted her position slightly so that she wasn’t breaking her neck, and the two of them kissed quietly for a few moments longer. Eventually they broke apart to breath, and Beau chuckled a little,

“So, uh, no million dollars, then?”

Yasha snorted, then suddenly pulled her legs out from beneath Beau so she could move entirely on top of her, pressing her lips back onto the other woman’s- who definitely did not complain.  Yasha’s hands slid up, grabbing Beau’s wrists and raising them above her head as her mouth moved off of Beau’s lips and onto her neck. Beau let out a soft moan, closing her eyes, definitely ready for some-

There was a loud sound of metallic hinges complaining as the door opened and admitted Caleb.

“Hey, Beau, do you know where-oh! Ah- sorry--” He only noticed what was going on halfway through his sentence and immediately turned around, unable to keep from grinning just a bit as he quickly departed the room again.

“Knock next time, Fuckass!” Beau yelled after him as Yasha rolled off of her. She groaned- the damage had already been done, and the mood had been killed.

“Fucking asshole,” She grumbled, letting her hand fall over her eyes while her cheeks burned, “Fuck.”

“You probably deserved it,” Yasha chuckled, seeming a bit less deterred by the interruption, “Especially from what you told me about the other night.”

“Ugh. Whatever,” Beau grumbled, “Me walking in on Caleb pinning Molly in the kitchen is different from Caleb walking into my room without even  _ bothering  _ to knock.”

“Mhmm,” Yasha mused, fishing out her book from where it has fallen from beside the bed.

Beau huffed, moving her hand up just enough so that she could glare at the ceiling, “I guess I’m just gonna have to teach the jerk to knock. Molly’s adopted him, so it’s not like he’s going to be leaving any time soon.”

“It’s not a terrible thing,” Yasha said idly, finding where she’d left off on the page, “Molly’s been pretty happy with Caleb around.”

“I know,” Beau mumbled, and turned her head so she could watch Yasha. After another brief moment of silence, she asked, “How long do you think before the two of them actually start kissing?”

Yasha glanced down at Beau, then looked away with a thoughtful expression. After a moment’s deliberation, she answered, “..I give it a month.”

“A month?” Beau raised her brows, “I was gonna say a  _ week _ .”

“They still need a little time to get to know eachother,” Yasha countered, “I mean, unless you’re counting kisses on the cheek, or forehead,”

“Nah, Molly does that to everyone,” Beau shook her head. “I mean like full-on on the lips. Or more like a make-out session.”

“Yes, then I stand by a month.”

“....Wanna bet on it?”

Yasha looked down at Beau, “..You want to bet on Molly’s romantic timing.”

Beau shrugged, “Why not?”

“Alright, sure. How much?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one, folks! Got a bit stuck on my writing.  
> Hopefully the Beauyasha makes up for it a bit ;)  
> Thanks again for all of the love and comments! You all have made my month absolutely lovely!  
> If you wanna find me on tumblr, I'm at battlefox.tumblr.com   
> Heck Yeah heck Yeah heck Yeah


	7. Chapter 7

“What’s this?” 

“Your share,” Molly smirked at Caleb, putting his hands back into his pockets. Caleb sat up from where he’d been sleeping on the couch, rubbing his eyes groggily. 

“My share?” He asked in confusion, picking up the neatly folded stack of bills that Molly had thrown onto his chest.

“You’re the one who found the skip, after all,” Molly practically purred, sitting on the arm rest, “Figured it was only proper to give you a part of the spoils.”

Caleb could hardly process what Molly was saying. He rubbed his eyes once more, then carefully unfolded the stack and counted. His heart rate increased a little after he finished, and he counted again. With eyes a bit wider, he quickly looked back up at Molly.

“This is four hundred dollars!”

“Guy had a pretty nice payout,” Molly mused, “He’d been racking up money with the bond guy for quite a while. Ended up being worth a solid eight hundred.”

“And you gave me half…” Caleb said dazedly, still not entirely awake. He rubbed his finger across the bills, just feeling the texture of it there. It was real. This could support him and Nott for a couple of months, if needed. This was more than he made in a week at the coffee shop. He could buy Nott more clothes, maybe even a few treats…

Molly sat on the edge of the couch, beaming at Caleb expectantly. Caleb took a bit more to process that, then finally looked to him again.

“Thank you…” He said, his voice more genuine than it had been the last several times he’d thanked the man. Before there’d been a tinge of suspicion in his tone, a bit of caution. But none of that was there now. It had been replaced with slight awe, and a fair bit of humility. 

“I.. honestly don’t know what to say. You’ve done so much for me, and… this means a lot. I wish I could make all of this up to you, somehow...”

“ _ Well _ ,” Molly began, his voice now heavy with intent, and almost immediately Caleb’s heart sank once more. Of course. There was always something. His mind flitted between many possibilities- mainly that of being pulled into finding some sort of drugs for Molly. That’s where his luck always seemed to bring him.

However, Molly’s continuation did not follow that path of thinking in the slightest, “You seem pretty good at researching stuff- not just what you did with that guy, but I’ve seen you using the computer to teach Nott. You’re pretty handy with it… and, well… Honestly I’m not. So I was thinking- would you be interested in working with me?”

Just how many times could this man floor him with just a few words? Caleb couldn’t keep himself from wondering. He glanced back to where Nott was still sleeping, then to Molly again. “I….. I don’t know. Somehow I suspect it’s not going to be that easy most of the time.”

“Probably not,” Molly mused, “But you seem like a sort of person who like a challenge every now and then.”

Caleb stared at Molly, not really meaning to lock eyes with him, but doing so anyways. He found it hard to even tear his gaze away. Something about his face just…. Distracted him.

Caleb cleared his throat and finally managed to look to the money in his hand again. It wasn’t an amount to sneeze at…. If this was the sort of payout he could expect…

“..Why not? Don’t really have much to lose at this point.”

“Great!” Molly beamed, and fished something out of his eclectic coat, “Was hoping you’d say that. Here! I got this from the bond guy. Let me know if you get any hits!”

Caleb took the paper, a bit startled, “I-I- Oh, ok, ah… if you say so.”

Guess he was going to spend the morning researching, then.

***   
  
By the time Nott woke up, Caleb was already hard at work on Molly’s laptop. Nott grimaced a bit and sat up slowly, rubbing her face with a little hand. The movement caught Caleb’s eye, and he looked over at her and smiled.

“Good morning!”

“You’re… oddly cheerful today,” Nott replied slowly, “..wha’ happened?”

“Well, turns out that Molly is very bad at computers, and I am not, so I sort of have a job,” He said, closing the computer, “I made a little bit of money. Do you want to go get some new clothes today?”

Nott’s eyes widened, and she quickly started get up out of bed, “Wait, what? We have a bit of money- shouldn’t we get your car back first? Or get YOU some clothes?”

“My car- that is, actually, a very good idea,” He admitted, though he didn’t want to think about the charges it had been racking up while sitting in the impound lot, “We’ll go get that, maybe, and then go shopping with what we have left. Get ready, and we’ll go.”

Nott nodded and scurried off to the bathroom to clean up. Caleb set the computer aside on the couch and got up. He’d need a ride to the impound, still. It was on the other side of town, and frankly, he’d rather not deal with them alone anyways. He headed down the hall and stopped at Molly’s door, rapping on it lightly with a knuckle.

“One second!” Came the harried response. Caleb heard a few mild curses and grunts, then louder cursing as something in the room fell.

“...You alright?” Caleb called in response.

“Yeah, yeah, like I said- just a sec.”

Caleb immediately ignored Molly’s request and opened the door just a crack, glancing in.

“I said a minute!” Molly snapped a bit, noticing the door opening. He was sitting on his bed, trying to gather together what looked like a first aid kit. It looked like he’d been in the middle of changing a bandage on some sort of gash on his stomach when Caleb had knocked. Caleb opened the door the rest of the ways.

“What are you doing?”

“Damnit- you don’t listen at all, do you?” Molly growled, glaring up at Caleb. “It’s fine, I’m just changing the bandages. I already got it stitched up yesterday. Professionally.”

“What happened?” Caleb asked, not leaving. Instead, he leaned down and helped Molly gather the remains of the spilled medical kit.

“..Guy had a knife.” Molly replied, his voice still a bit bitter, “Did you need something?”

“I was going to ask if I could get a ride to the police impound lot,” Caleb replied, glancing around the room. He actually hadn’t seen the inside of it, despite having been here for about a month now. It was… surprisingly simple. With Molly’s eclectic sense of fashion, he’d honestly expected the room to be plastered in posters, or covered in hanging silks or something. Instead it was almost… barren. Empty. It honestly made Caleb feel a bit sad for some reason, though he couldn’t place a finger on why.

Molly, on the other hand, was anything BUT simple. As Caleb’s gaze shifted from the room back to the man, he found his eyes sliding carefully from the dyed purple hair to the peacock feather tattoo, which Caleb now realized continued down part of his back and arm before turning into a sleeve of flowers. The sleeve went to about mid-forearm before turning into a snake that reached the back of his hand. The rest of Molly’s upper body had various other tattoos- and Caleb sort of wished he could move around the bed and see what it looked like from the other side. Instead, his eyes fell on the stitched wound on Molly’s stomach that he’d been trying to bandage when Caleb had intruded.

“...do you not have some kind of vest or something to keep that from happening?”

“I do, somewhere,” Molly replied tersely, taking the supplies from Caleb’s hands and putting them in the medical box. He then plucked out a gauze pad and began to unwrap it, “Look, just give me a second and I’ll give you a ride over there on my way to work.”

“Right. Alright.” Caleb nodded, “Thanks..” and he quickly ducked out of the room. His heart was racing, and he was trying to figure out why. The entire time he’d been looking over the tattoos, he’d wanted to reach out, slowly run his fingers along them. Just being that close to Molly would be-

-What? What was he thinking? What was he  _ doing?  _ This was ridiculous. He needed to focus on…. Something else. Anything else. Ugh. Caleb sat back down on the couch. Nott came out back to the living room first, and he wordlessly started helping her brush her hair into something that was at least sort of manageable. 

Ever since Caleb had met Molly, he’d been unable to sort of what exactly his emotions towards him were. From the initial… odd meeting, to now. Molly had been the strangest mix of kind, weird, and asshole. All that and even after living with him for a month, he still had little to no idea about anything to do with who he was. Did he have family? How did he meet Beau and Yasha? What got him in the habit of adopting people? What had happened that made him sound so… knowledgeable about what was going on in Caleb’s head on the day he convinced him to come back? Who the hell even  _ was  _ Molly?

“Dad, ow!” Nott winced, and Caleb jumped.

“Oh, sorry!”

“I think it’s brushed enough now,” She grimaced, and pulled out the comb he’d manage to tangle into her hair without thinking, “Are you ok? You’re being...weird.”

“Just thinking,” He sighed just a little, and shifted his voice to a softer tone to make sure Molly couldn’t hear in the other room, “...I mean, we’re about to get the car back, right? We could start sleeping there again, if you’d like. It’d probably be a little quieter.”

“Oh…” Nott tried to hide it, but her face fell. She thought for a moment, then quickly, “You know, actually, I think I’d rather have a few more pretty clothes than the car- or maybe cake! We can buy a lot of cake with that money, right?”

Caleb looked at her in surprise, realizing what was going on rather quickly, “You don’t want to leave, do you?”

“It’s nice here,” Nott bit her lip, looking upset, “I like it! And we don’t have to worry about getting in trouble for sleeping anywhere..”

“That’s true, that is nice, but…. Ach.” Caleb ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t want to keep being a burden on them. It is nice having a warm place to stay.. But I also don’t want to overstay our welcome, yah?”

“I don’t want to.” Nott huffed, “Molly still owes me twenty dollars anyways! We can’t leave until we get that, at least!”

“He- ah, right,” He’d forgotten about Nott’s initial poker game with Molly. Nott had been hounding the man for her money since that day. It was amusing, to be entirely honest. But Caleb knew that she was just using it for a distraction tactic this time around, “You know, if I keep doing the work, we could get our  _ own _ apartment. It will be very nice, and it would be just you and me.”

“It won’t be the same.” Nott responded firmly, “No.”

Caleb stared at the little girl in awe. It was rare that she gave him such an ultimatum. Normally, he’d be able to convince her, but…

“I know it’s not just the twenty dollars, why do you want to stay  _ here  _ so badly?”

Nott looked down, lip trembling, but didn’t answer.

“What is it?” Caleb pressed, now more worried than before.

“I want to stay.” She repeated, then added, “I like it here, because  _ you’re  _ happy here.”

Caleb blinked in surprise. That was not the answer he’d expected at all. Nott continued, rubbing her nose as she talked.

“You’re always so… tired and stuff. But when we’re here… you’re just more ok. And you actually laugh! And smile. You do it a lot when Molly’s talking. If we go away, then you aren’t going to smile as much, and that’s not okay.”   
“I-I,” Caleb stammered, and actually found his cheeks flushing a little, “I would be happy in another apartment, I’m sure I’d smile,”

“But not as much as if Molly were with us.”

“That’s--”

“You ready to go?” The voice of the man himself interrupted as Molly appeared in the room, spinning his keys on his finger. 

Caleb jumped a bit, then straightened quickly, clearing his throat, “Yeah, er- yes, please, let’s go.” and without another word, he hurried over to the doorway. Molly raised his brows at Caleb’s behavior, but decided to just go with it for now.

“C’mon, Nott!” Molly smirked a bit, gesturing for her to follow, “I’ll get you a milkshake on the way.”

“ _ Fuck  _ yeah!!”

__ _ “ _ **_Nott!!”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the first bit written for a while and just took me a little bit to figure out what I wanted to do for the second half. Blagh I feel like I'm drifting out of their characters but idk  
> Enjoy! I don't think the next chapter will take quite as long to get out ;) I know exactly what I'm doing for that one.  
> Find me on Tumblr at battlefox.tumblr.com or on twitter @BAXbattlefox  
> I do a lot of visual art too that you can find there!


	8. Chapter 8

“Aaach!!” Caleb clung to the dashboard of the Volkswagen as it barrelled around a corner. He swore he could feel the wheels lifting up on one side.

“Slow down!! You are going to kill us all!”   
“I can’t lose ‘im!!” Molly barked back, yanking the steering wheel back in the other direction now. Nott let out a small squeal, trying to tilt her milkshake to match the van’s rocking to help minimize spilling, “That one’s worth another eight hundred!! Just hold on tighter or something!!”

Caleb groaned, already holding on as tightly as was physically possible. He was very much regretting pointing the man out to Molly. He’d been on the list of people that Molly had given them that morning, and Caleb had recognized him as they’d driven by. Now they were tailing him in a high-speed car chase.   
“If you get us killed, you are paying our medical bills!!” Caleb grunted, then gagged as his seatbelt nearly strangled him as Molly slammed on the brakes, the Van’s tires screeching terribly and the car lurching. The car in front of them had run a red light, and though he managed to miss all of the other vehicles, he’d manage to ram his car into an electrical pole doing so. Molly had managed to bring the van to a screeching halt just before the intersection, and he quickly scrambled out of the car, leaving the driver’s door open so he could bolt after the guy who was now trying to stagger away from his car.

“Ugh, I can’t believe- here, Nott, come up to the front seat. I think he is going to try and put the guy back there,” Caleb groaned, moving out of his seat to help Nott with her seatbelt, “Ah, you are just covered in Milkshake.”   
“I  _ tried _ not to spill any,” Nott grumbled, “I’m gonna make Molly buy me a new one.”   
“Good idea,” Caleb grabbed a stray scrap of a fast food napkin and did what damage control he could before helping Nott into the front seat with him instead. And soon enough, a panting Molly returned, half helping and half dragging the skip with him.

“There yah go, yah lump,” Molly grunted, tossing the man unceremoniously into the back of the van. The man groaned, rolling over slightly, seeming to be stunned somehow.   
“...What did you do to him?” Caleb eyed the man as Molly made sure the handcuffs on him were tight enough.

“Tazed him,” Molly chuckled, “Er… a couple times. He kept kicking after the first one. Probably hopped up on something.”

“Right,” Caleb grimaced.

Molly finished ensuring the man was properly restrained and hopped out of the back of the van, locking it. He clambered back into the driver’s seat.

“There! Won’t take too much time out of our way to drop ‘em off.” He grinned, still a bit out of breath.    
“You are a madman,” Caleb snorted, but seemed to be more amused than actually frustrated, “And you are paying for whatever whiplash I just got.”

“Eh, I can just massage it out of your neck later,” Molly turned slightly to wink at Caleb.

Caleb found himself sputtering immediately, and wasn’t entirely sure why.

“Wow Dad, you’re turning pretty red,” Nott looked up at Caleb, seeming far too pleased for her own good.

“I-it is hot in here,” Caleb grumbled, “Can we turn on the car already? I need the AC…”

 

***   
  
Caleb shifted uncomfortably beside Molly as they stood in the police station. Molly had insisted Caleb help him pull the man inside, both for security reasons, and so Caleb could ‘learn the entire process’. Caleb was not usually averse to education, but he had to admit, he was still a fair bit jumpy around the police. A few officers had taken the skip back to another room, and now they were just waiting around to finish some paperwork before they got paid. Caleb hung back a few steps behind Molly, arm gently resting on Nott’s back.

“Professor Widogast?” Came a voice, speaking in a startled southern accent. Caleb looked up quickly, and was surprised to see Fjord, his former student, standing there in uniform.

“Oh! Fjord! It has been some time, hasn’t it,” He replied, flustered, “Ah, you are an officer now?”

“Er, yeah,” Fjord replied awkwardly, “Have been for ‘bout a year now. What’re you doing here? Last I heard, you.. Uh.. just sorta stopped showing up at the university.”

“Yes, ah, well, that is… complicated, isn’t it..” Caleb muttered, “Maybe we can talk about this some other time? It would be good to catch up…”

“Ah, you two know eachother?” Molly had approached while they spoke, and rested his elbow on Caleb’s shoulder. It looked a touch comical, as Caleb was quite a few inches taller than Molly, “Excellent!”

“Wait, Molly, you know the Professor too?” Fjord now look doubly confused.

“Well-” Caleb tried to explain, but Molly interrupted him.   
“I don’t know about the Professor thing, but Caleb here’s been helping me out with bringing in skips~” 

“....you’re…. A  _ bounty hunter _ now?” Fjord seemed to be straining to process that.

“Like I said, we can talk some other time,” Caleb glanced at Molly, “Are you done yet..?”   
“Yep! Here’s your half. Let’s go get your car~” Molly gave a wide toothy grin and slapped Caleb on the shoulder before marching to the door.

“Come on, Nott,” Caleb muttered, patting her on the back.   
“Dad, was that one of your students?” Nott asked as they walked out. Caleb barely caught sight of Fjord’s expression somehow becoming MORE confused before the door closed and he was no longer in sight.    
“Yes, he was,” Caleb chuckled quietly, “I’ll tell you more in the car, alright?”

“Mmm. Alright,” Nott frowned a bit, catching Caleb’s tone of voice. They all loaded back into the van, and Molly started driving them towards the impound lot. Caleb felt really awkward with how quiet it was. He’d expected Molly to start peppering him with questions the instant that they left the building, but he’d said… nothing.

“...aren’t you going to ask?” Caleb finally ventured, glancing at the brightly adorned man. Molly shrugged, and offered Caleb an enigmatic smile.   
“You didn’t look like you really wanted to talk about it. If it’s something you don’t want to share, I’m not going to push. Everyone should have the right to leave their past behind them.”

“...Huh. alright,” Caleb muttered a bit, not believing it at first. But then, Molly continued… not asking. He looked like he’d genuinely accepted that Caleb didn’t want to talk about it. Caleb looked back out of the front windshield and found himself genuinely uncomfortable that Molly was so… readily accepting of him.

“I did. Used to be a professor.” Caleb said in a halting tone, sounding awfully awkward, but he just couldn’t keep himself from saying it, “But I got involved with some not great things. That is how I met Nott.”   
He didn’t add any further information, and Molly just nodded, accepting the information that Caleb had deemed to give him, without any further prying. Caleb felt a bit better, and honestly a touch elated that Molly wasn’t trying to drag the whole story out of him. They got to the impound lot not too much later, and Caleb finally got his car back. The first thing he did was drive to get the hearse some gas, and then he and Nott ran several errands. Eventually he walked back through the door, him and Nott toting an excess of grocery bags.

“We are making dinner tonight!” Nott proclaimed loudly, “So no one else is allowed in the kitchen! Or I’ll stab you!”   
Caleb smiled happily, setting aside a few of the bags and then started putting away the contents of a few others. 

“Wait, what’s going on?” Beau stuck her head into the kitchen, “You’re cooking?! That’s- hey! Ow! Watch it, kid!” She jumped back as Nott jabbed her leg with a spork.

“Hey hey hey!” Caleb took Nott by the shoulders and pulled her back, “Careful, now, let’s not stab our roommates, as grumpy as they may be.”

“Eh, fuck you,” Beau snorted, and headed back to her room. Nott flipped her off as she went. Caleb sighed, “And this is what they’re teaching you..”   
But that didn’t dampen his mood in the slightest. By the time Molly got home from his shift at Hot Topic and opened the door, Caleb was pulling a pan out of the oven and stirring another on the stove.   
“What’s all this?” Molly leaned in, looking over the variety of food that Caleb was preparing.   
“Well, ahh, we had a bit of extra money,” Caleb smiled, “Even after all of our stops, so I figured I could do something, at least as a bit of a thank you for all you have done. You’ve let me live here after all, so.. Figured it was the least I could do.”   
“Well, not going to say no to free food,” Molly smiled, “Let me know when it’s ready!”   
Caleb found himself even humming a little, and he started putting together plates of food. He heard some stuff being moved around in the living room, and after a glance out the kitchen door he realized that the other three were setting up the TV to watch a movie. Caleb finished the dinner and passed out the plates while they all settled into the couch. Beau flicked the lights off and started the movie before clambering over the side of the couch, across Molly, to the middle seat. Caleb and Nott sat on the air mattress in front of the couch, and they started the movie. It was a terrible B-movie; one of the Godzilla movies that had been dubbed particularly poorly. They all poked fun at it as they watched, imitating the lines and laughing at the acting.

Caleb felt himself genuinely relaxing, for the first time in a very long time. He laughed along with the rest of the group, and he felt… at home.

Even before the car accident, he hadn’t ever really had something like this.

“Here, don’t move,” Came a voice from behind him, and he felt hands reach out and touch his shoulders where they met his neck. Caleb tensed immediately, and Molly clicked his tongue, “Oh, calm down, I’m not gonna strangle you or anything. I promised I’d take care of that whiplash.”

Caleb felt himself flushing, immediately remembering Molly’s earlier words. Molly, taking Caleb’s silence as acceptance, began to gently work the muscles around Caleb’s shoulders and neck while they continued to watch the movie. Caleb was now, however, finding it much harder to focus on the screen. Molly was actually rather good at what he was doing, and Caleb’s initial tenseness was quickly dissolving into a reluctant relaxed state. Caleb eventually found himself closing his eyes,and then slowly, drifting off.

Eventually, he found a gentle hand shaking him, and he jumped a bit, returning to wakefulness with a start.

“Shh, it’s alright,” Molly assured him softly. The room was dark now, and it looked like Yasha and Beau had gone elsewhere.   
“I.. did I fall asleep?”

“Yeah,” Molly had just the hint of a smile on his face, and it was gentler than his usual face-cracking grin, “Nott too. We already moved her, though. Got her taken care of. Now it’s your turn.”   
Caleb glanced over to find that the mattress had indeed been dragged back to the corner, and Nott was peacefully sleeping on top of it, in pajamas and neatly tucked in.   
“...thank you,” Caleb blushed and muttered, and glanced up. He was startled to find Molly’s face unexpectedly close to his own. Molly gently placed a kiss on Caleb’s forehead.   
“Get some rest. You’ve earned it.”   
And he straightened, patted Caleb on the cheek, then headed back to his room.

Caleb sat there for many long moments, face just burning.   
He might just have.. Some sort of feelings… for Molly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thiiiiiis chapter was brought to you by Hayley Kiyoko's new album because holy COW  
> If you wanna find me on tumblr I'm at battlefox.tumblr.com and I'm @BAXBattlefox on twitter!  
> PLEASE feel free to talk to me at any point in time! I cherish every single comment, message, EVERYTHING. It seriously makes my entire month to hear from people.


	9. Chapter 9

Fjord frowned for what had to be the hundredth time that hour. Ever since seeing Professor Widogast, he’d had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t exactly right. The fact that he had been with Mollymauk didn’t necessarily surprise him-- the man tended to attract strays like sugar attracted ants-- what really surprised him was that Caleb was just wandering freely around the station, and was not actively being arrested. Nothing against his previous mentor, but he wasn’t unaware of what Caleb had gotten into since leaving the University. In fact, he’d made an effort to follow what had happened… and Caleb very much should still be behind bars.

So why wasn’t he?

Fjord had taken the time to pull up Caleb’s criminal record, and….

Nothing. 

Gone.

Completely wiped clean.

Had Caleb hired someone to clear his name? He hadn’t been exonerated- Fjord had gone through old news articles, looked up everything he could...  As far as he could tell Caleb was arrested, Caleb broke out, and Caleb should still be on the run.

But no, he was walking freely with a bounty hunter, and he had  _ no damn criminal record to speak of. _

Something was off, and Fjord knew it. And then he’d come across a more recent article- a dead body discovered. One of a chain of murders, supposedly related to gang activity… and there was the car that he’d watched Caleb drive off of the impound lot with.

He’d pulled up the vehicle impound record and just waited. 

Only about an hour later- no more impound record.

Someone was actively removing the information.

Fjord wanted to know why.

 

***   
Nott was really really bored. Caleb was asleep and she didn’t want to wake him; he needed all of the rest that he could get. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the password to the computer, either, and Molly didn’t have a whole lot interesting stuff. He didn’t even have an Xbox. Nott had never gotten to play on an Xbox, truth be told, but she heard that people with houses had them and got to have fun playing on them. 

So, while the rest of the home slept, Nott quietly starting wandering around, a pastime she’d taken to when no one was around to notice her doing it. She started in the living room, running her hand along the built-in shelves that housed the TV, and a few random odds and ends. She followed the wall to the front door, then turned into the kitchen. She touched the tarnished drawer pulls, and slid her fingers along the edge of the sink. She wrinkled her nose when her fingers touched bits of remaining moisture in the corners, and she pulled back her hand and wiped it on her shirt before continuing.

She moved out of the other kitchen door back to the living room area, and then turned into the hallway, her eyes searching out the framed posters she was slowly becoming familiar with. She paused when she came to the bathroom, hearing the shower running. Apparently she wasn’t the only one awake after all.. 

She glanced between the three rooms, and caught sight of Molly’s door, which was cracked open, slightly. Assuming that meant that Molly was the one in the shower, Nott decided to take the opportunity to slip into the room. Like Caleb before her, she was actually fairly surprised at how empty the room was. With such a colorful person living in it, she’d honestly expected the room to be just as eye-catching. But no, there was only a few simple pieces of furniture, a hamper, and not much else. 

And there was Molly, watching her wander right in with raised eyebrows. 

“Did ya need something?” 

Nott jumped a good foot back, “Ah! I thought you were in the shower!!”   
“No, that’s Beau,” he snorted a bit, “What were you doing? Thinking of taking something?”   
“What? No! I was just.. Just looking,” Nott shrank back further, feeling much as she had the first time she’d met him, when he’d caught her pocketing things at the Hot Topic.

Molly watched her for a moment, then dipped his head, chuckled, “I believe yah, don’t worry. Take it Caleb’s not up yet?”   
“Not yet,” Nott relaxed just a little, but stayed by the door. Just in case.

Molly went back to what he’d been doing when she came in- carefully lacing up his combat boots. Nott watched him for a while, just hovering in his doorway. Eventually, to Molly’s surprise, she sat down on the floor.   
“...Camping out?” Molly gave her another glance between boots.

“I want to know,” Nott asked, feeling the question arise from nowhere. Well, not really from nowhere, she’d been wondering since he’d let Caleb and her live here.

“Do you like my dad?”

Molly paused, watching her. Carefully, he asked, “..What sort of like do you mean?”

“I mean…” Nott frowned a little more, “ _ Like _ like. I mean… I see you looking at him when he’s not paying attention. And you’re always super nice to him and give him a lot of things and and you let us stay here… and you always make sure he’s ok. Even when he’s.. Not ok. No one but me has done that for him before.”   
Molly listened to Nott, staying silent as she spoke, looking thoughtful. Eventually he gave a soft chuckle, and responded, “You know… you’re.. Pretty observant for a kid.” He glanced around his room, seeming to search for the words he was trying to say before returning his gaze to her. Instead of answering he asked, “...Why do you stay with him?”

“We take care of eachother,” Nott replied almost immediately. “He teaches me, and I take care of him.”

“You… take care of him?” He responded, curious.

“Yeah. I take care of him,” Nott said firmly, “He may be the adult, but he’s really bad at it. I make sure he eats, make sure he bathes, and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, like do more drugs.”   
Molly looked a little stunned, then laughed slightly, “Well.. I think… I feel the same way. I… I want to take care of him. Though, less because I don’t think he can do it himself, but more, erm… because I want him to be happy.”

Nott watched him, narrowing her eyes just slightly.

“You ever hurt him, in any way, I  _ will  _ stab you. Understood?”

“I know you would,” He looked down, and finished tying his boot. Nott, seeming satisfied with the conversation, stood up again. She nodded to Molly, and quickly headed back out of his room. If Molly wanted to help her take care of Caleb, that would be ok. He was already helping her with that a lot already. She stepped into the living room, glancing at Caleb’s sleeping form. She didn’t care what happened. The two of them would always protect eachother, and that’s that.   
  


***

 

“Molly,” Caleb poked his head out of the hallway to look at the man, who was lounging on the couch with Nott.   
“Hmm? Yes?” Molly looked up, “I thought you were taking a shower?”   
“I was going to, but,” he frowned, “There is a noise.”

Molly raised his brows, “ah… noise?”

“Yes. A noise.”

Molly grinned a little, “There’s a scary noise and you need me to come look?”

Caleb made an indignant sound, “I didn’t say it was  _ scary. _ I just said it was a noise.”

“Oh, no worries, my delicate flower,” Molly got up, grinning like the cheshire cat, and bowed melodramatically. He mimed pulling a sword from his belt, “I, Mollymauk Tealeaf, will save you from your distress!”

Caleb groaned. Molly smirked, heading past Caleb to the bathroom. 

Once Caleb finally convinced himself to follow Molly, he found the man standing on top of the closed toilet, frowning at the vent.

“You see? It is not a normal-”

“Shh!” Molly pressed a finger to his lips, then went back to paying attention to the vent. A moment passed, and then finally came the sound- an unmistakable mewl of a distressed cat.   
“How in the hells-- Go get me a screwdriver,” Molly started trying to figure out how to get the fan cover off.

“Where..?”

“Junk drawer in the kitchen.” 

Caleb hurried away, and returned shortly with a screwdriver and a few other things in hand. Between the two of them, they managed to pry the cover free from the fan, and carefully pulled the fan itself out of the way.

“Whoa, easy, kitty,” Molly muttered, trying to extract the feline. By the scrabbling claw sounds in the vent, he was not having the easiest time. “I’m trying to help you, dangit!!”

He managed to tug the struggling cat free, but it whirled around and flung itself out of his grip, landing on its feet and bolting out of the bathroom.

“Damnit!! Come back!” Molly called after it in exasperation. Caleb chuckled, seeming amused.

“You know, you can’t catch a cat by yelling at it.”

“I can damn well try!!”

Caleb gave a genuine laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement. “Just get me a can of tuna, please. I’ll get the cat.”

Molly seemed momentarily stunned, watching Caleb’s smile, then he just nodded, actually blushing a little, “Er, yeah. One moment.” he hurried past Caleb and headed into the kitchen. Damnit, now that Nott had asked him about it, he found himself noticing when he stared at Caleb more often. It was  _ definitely  _ more than he’d realized he’d been doing it. He grabbed a can of tuna and opened it before returning to find Caleb in his room, peeking under the bed. Smelling the Tuna, Caleb straightened again.   
“Ah, good, thank you,” He smiled a bit and took the Tuna, “Now, just stay very quiet, and very still.”    
Carefully, Caleb brought the can of Tuna closer to the floor, and made a couple of kissy sounds, waiting patiently. It didn’t actually take long. The cat poked its head out from under the bed, sniffing the air. Carefully, Caleb coaxed the cat from under the bed, until he had it in his lap, eating tuna from the can in his hand. He gently pet the cat, crooning under his breath, keeping as still as he could as to not scare it off.

“Huh,” Molly said softly, but for once found himself unable to articulate anything else.    
“You are a pretty kitty, aren’t you?” Caleb chuckled, scratching the cat under the chin. The cat happily began to purr, lifting its head.   
“I think I will call you…. Frumpkin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a CRAZY MONTH y'all  
> Sorry about the wait! Had uhhhhhhh bit of a pipe burst in our basement, which caused some nasty flooding and all that jazz.  
> In the meantime, while dealing with that, it has been LOVELY reading y'alls comments! It always makes my day and I read every single one and y'all are just too nice to me  
> Thank you for all the love <3  
> ALSO I'M GOING TO DENVER COMIC CON NEXT WEEK Feel free to come say hi if you're there and you see me! I'll be in a Modern Mollymauk cosplay- I'll be the purple tiefling in 6" holo platform boots and metallic booty shorts  
> This chapter brought to you by P!ATD's Death of a Bachelor album which reminds me of Molly so hard and also by today's super butch outfit (I look real gay yall)  
> As always, don't forget that you can find me on tumblr at battlefox.tumblr.com or on twitter @BAXbattlefox. I LOVE hearing from y'all, so never feel afraid to shoot me an ask or mention anywhere!


	10. Chapter 10

“Well this is a surprise,” Molly mused, leaning against the doorframe of his apartment. He was wearing little more than boxers, but didn’t seem to mind. The lack of clothing displayed the large array of tattoos that trailed down his chest, contrasting against his deep, warm brown skin, as well as against his bright silver nipple piercings. 

Fjord did his best not to focus on all of that.

“I’ve come t’ understand that Mr. Widogast and his… young one have been staying with you as of late. This true?”

“Maybe. Who’s asking?” Molly replied in a coy tone, but his eyes seemed to bore into Fjord, trying to read him.

“Me, I’m askin’. As me. Not as an officer.” Fjord replied, keeping his voice low, “I fully believe Mr. Widogast is a good guy, but… There’s something more going on that I don’t know if he’s involved in. I need you to let me in.”

“Caleb’s not here right now,” Molly countered, straightening in the doorway, but keeping his arms crossed. He did not look nearly as casual as he had before, and his gaze continued to scan Fjord’s for any sign of deceit, “I’m aware Mister Caleb’s had some nasty experiences in his past, but he’s working to get past that. And I’m not about to let you come in here and ruin the progress he’s making.”

“This ain’t about that, Molly,” Fjord leaned forward, keeping his voice low, “Listen, I’ve got no intention of runnin’ Mr. Widogast in, alright? Even if he’s got a heroin needle in his arm as we speak. What I’m sayin’ is there’s somethin’ bigger than all of us going on right now, and I need to know what he knows about it. There’s a good chance people are in danger, and I know he’d want to help out where he could.”

Molly considered Fjord for a long moment. A silent conversation hung on the air between them. Then, finally, Molly stepped aside.

“Fine, alright. Head on in. But one step against Mister Caleb, even if you’re just makin’ him too uncomfortable, and you’re out, alright? He’s more welcome here than you.”

“I appreciate it, Molly. I really do,” Fjord relaxed visibly, and stepped into the small apartment. Molly closed the door behind the two of them and led Fjord over to the couch that had become Caleb’s bed for the past month and a half.

“So, I wasn’t lyin’ when I said Caleb wasn’t here. He’s out with Nott doing a bit of shopping,” Molly explained, picking up one of the partially-finished energy drinks that was laying around the house, “He should be back in about a half an hour, so if you really want to talk with him, it’s gonna be a bit of a wait.”

“That’s fine,” Fjord replied with a small nod, “I can wait… It’s important.”   
“Alright,” Molly took a sip from the can, not taking his eyes off of the police officer the entire time he did. Eventually Molly left Fjord alone in the living room, and moved into the kitchen to wait for Caleb to return.

In about half an hour, as expected, Molly saw Caleb getting out of his old brown hearse with Nott, carrying a few bags towards the apartment. As quietly as he could, Molly slipped out of the apartment and met the two of them halfway up the walk.   
“Molly!” Caleb greeted with a startled look, “You… shouldn’t you… ah, be wearing pants?”

“Pants are for losers,” Molly replied dismissively, “Listen, before you go inside- Officer Fjord’s waiting for you.”   
Caleb halted in his tracks, as did Nott beside him, and they both gave the man a careful look.

“Now, I’ve vetted him a bit, but… listen, I didn’t want you just walking in there without realizing he was there,” Molly informed them, sounding a touch agitated, “He wouldn’t tell me exactly what he wants to talk about, though he swore up and down he wasn’t here to take you in. I… listen, Caleb, I’ve worked with the guy for a while, but he’s still a cop. He doesn’t seem like he’s lying, but I’m not sure I trust him either way. So I wanted to warn you in case you wanted to skip for now.”

Caleb’s brow furrowed, and his face went through a series of emotions, considering Molly.

“You… didn’t have to warn me.”   
“Didn’t have to, but… Eh. I don’t feel particularly like having you end up hurt, ya know?”

The words hit Caleb with much more emotional impact than he’d thought they would. His lips parted briefly, then closed again as he considered his response to that. Finally, he handed the bags he was carrying to Molly, and knelt down next to Nott.

“Nott, listen close, alright?” Caleb began earnestly, “I need you to go wait in the car with Molly. If I’m not out in an hour, let him take you somewhere safe. If any other officers show up, leave. Do what Molly says. We trust, him, right?”   
“Don’t do anything really stupid, ok?” Was Nott’s answer, “If you do something stupid, I’ll… I’ll take away your computer privileges for a week.”

Caleb chuckled a little, and nodded to her, “Alright,  _ mausebär _ .” 

He looked up at Molly, “...That alright with you?”

Molly nodded in agreement, 

“I’ll keep her safe.”

Caleb straightened, and looked Mollymauk in the eyes, “I really, really owe you one. I mean, I already owe you, but this…”

“Just don’t do anything stupid,  _ ja?”  _ Molly replied in a surprisingly soft tone, closing the distance for a brief moment to plant a light kiss on the tip of Caleb’s nose. Nott gasped softly at the gesture, and Caleb’s blush reached the tips of his ears.

“O-Oh that is cute,” He muttered to himself, then rushed rather quickly away, to the apartment door.   
  


Fjord glanced up when Caleb entered, then frowned a bit, glancing around the apartment. Apparently, Molly’d slipped out when he wasn’t paying attention. And Caleb didn’t look too surprised to see him. Fjord stood, and gave a little nod to Caleb.

“Professor--”

“Please, really, I’m not a professor any more,” Caleb insisted, stopping in the entrance to the living room, “what is it that you want?”

“...Molly already got to you, I see,” Fjord finally surmised, though it took longer to do so than he wanted to admit. “Well that’s fine…. I just… I need to talk.”

He sat back down, and gestured awkwardly to the couch beside him. Caleb stepped a little further into the room, but did not sit down. He just watched Fjord like a mouse warily eyeing a cat. Fjord actually seemed a bit hurt at the lack of trust, and let his arms drop back down to rest on his knees once more.

“I heard yah got yourself in a bit of a scuffle the other week. Dragged in on suspicion of murder.”

“You heard correctly.” Caleb replied stiffly, keeping his words to a minimum in order to prevent anything incriminating from slipping out.

“Well, I barely heard, and bout the time you came and got your car out, alla’ that had been erased from our system. Nothing.”

“Because we didn’t do anything,” Caleb replied in a clipped tone, his brow furrowing a little, “They could not keep us without evidence--”

“--That ain’t what I mean, Caleb.” Fjord cut him off, giving him a meaningful look, “Even if you weren’t guilty, we keep all of that on file. Everything. We keep photos, evidence,  _ arrest records _ \-- Caleb, we ain’t even got your mugshots anymore. Your fingerprints. Your DNA. Someone’s gone through and gotten rid of all’a that.”

Caleb’s eyes widened a little when he realized what Fjord was telling him, and his fingers dug into the fabric of his tattered jacket. Someone had erased all of it. Erased everything. He’d been right. It  _ had _ been too easy to get out of it all. At first his mind went to Molly- the only person who came to mind as having motive for removing his police record- but Molly was utterly useless at using computers. That was why he’d unofficially hired Caleb to do the computer research for him. Molly couldn’t even figure out facebook. Who else…?

“Now there’s someone I… I’ve had my eye on in the police department for some time,” Fjord continued now that it was obvious that Caleb understood the gravity of the situation, “Someone who just doesn’t… doesn’t feel right. Things have been disappearing under everyone’s noses, things getting covered up- but I don’t often see a cover up to the extent of the one on your file. Now, I’m known for sticking my nose where it don’t belong, but when I smell somethin’ foul, I’m gonna try and get rid of it. So I need to know. Have you ever heard the name Trent Ikithon?”

Every single nerve in Caleb’s skin seemed to twinge all at once, and he felt his lips part involuntarily. His eyes went even wider, and his knuckles were white with how tightly he was digging his fingernails into his sleeves. He found himself unable to speak momentarily, so he just nodded faintly, reaching up to rub his mouth with a hand.

“ _ Ja, ja ich kenne ihn. _ ”

“I’m… just gonna assume that means you do,” Fjord replied, his frown deepening at Caleb’s very visceral reaction to the name, “Well, currently, Mr. Ikithon is known more publicly as  _ Police Chief  _ Ikithon. And so you can start to see why I’m growing a bit concerned.”

“Trent is… he is a policeman?” That information seemed new to Caleb, something that Fjord apparently didn’t expect.

“Yeah, uh… He’s been Chief for a good amount’a time now. He runs a tight ship, which is nice and all, but… there’s some times when things don’t seem quite above the table, if you know what I mean.”

“He is a policeman,” Caleb repeated, “Oh, that is… very bad.”

“Why?” Fjord watched Caleb, but Caleb shook his head, “I cannot… I can’t tell you everything right now. This is not a good place, and I need to make sure Nott is safe before anything else.”

“Nott, that’s your lil’ girl, right?” Fjord sighed a bit, “...alright I suppose I can understand a bit of caution. But I can swear t’ you that I’m really looking for your help in this. If Trent’s into some shit, we need to know.”

Caleb let out a weak laugh, “Well, Officer Fjord, if you went out looking for some shit, you certainly found it.”

  
  


A few moments after Fjord left the apartment, Caleb poked his head out of the door, and waved to where Molly and Nott were still waiting in the car, motioning that it was safe for them to come back in. Hardly a moment later, Molly bowled through the door, nearly flinging the bags to the floor in his hurry to come over and inspect Caleb.

“We saw ‘em leave. Did it all end alright? Do we need t’ pack and go? What’s going on?”

Caleb had to let out the slightest laugh, “You really are ready for all this on the drop of a hat, huh?” he let out a heavy breath, steadying himself, “No, we are fine… Fjord was not here to take me away. He… at least, seemingly, is being honest. For now.”

“What did he want?” Molly asked as Nott gathered the bags he’d dropped and tugged them to the living room, leaving Molly to accost Caleb alone.

“Information,” Caleb sighed, running his fingers down his sleeves again, trying to gain some comfort from the familiar texture, “There is… someone I knew during the time when I was… not entirely myself. And apparently he’s working alongside Fjord. Fjord supposedly does not trust him, and is trying to find out… well, the extent of his poor choices.”

“So, a dirty cop,” Molly frowned, “Well, not anything too new, but judging by your face this asshole’s particularly filthy.”

“You could say that,” Caleb offered Molly a hollow smile. His heart was still racing from the conversation, and he couldn’t slow his thoughts long enough to be able to process any of them. He needed time to think.

“I convinced him to leave the bulk of that conversation to another time,” Caleb admitted, “And that we needed to have it somewhere other than here. Trent has ears in more places than I want to think about, and I need… need to make sure you and Nott are safe somewhere else before I start poking the anthill.”

Molly gave a slight chuckle, “Ah, yah don’t need to worry about me, Caleb. I don’t got anything to lose, really.”

“You certainly act like it,” Caleb admitted, and turned his eyes up to meet Molly’s, “Sounds like you have some secrets of your own, Mr. Tealeaf.”

“Ah, Mr. Widogast, you hardly know the start of it.” Molly leaned in, and Caleb could scarcely believe it as his soft lips pressed against his own.

Caleb had never been fond of physical touch. Something about even brushing against other people usually made his stomach turn. But for some reason, Molly seemed to be the exception to that rule. Any time Molly moved closer, Caleb found himself hardly able to move away. And in this moment, he was suddenly,  _ incredibly desperate _ to keep this man as close to himself as he could.

So it was with a surprising level of energy that Caleb Widogast returned the kiss with Mollymauk. He closed his eyes, and tilted his head slightly to allow their lips to fit better together, allow them to work more harmoniously. Mollymauk’s breath caught, and his hands moved up to grab the collar of Caleb’s jacket to drag his body against his own. Caleb couldn’t keep himself from letting out a soft moan as the two of them stumbled back against the wall. Oh, he  _ needed _ this, he  _ needed  _ this so much…

Neither of them caught the sound of the opening door until too late.

“Holy  _ Fuck,”  _ Came Beau’s voice, nigh upon gleeful. Molly and Caleb split apart, both panting heavily, and both turning particularly red.

“Uuhhh, don’t stop on our account, really,” Beau grinned, sidling past the two of them into the kitchen with Yasha. 

“Ah, I should… I… I need to help Nott empty… bags. From earlier,” Caleb stammered to Mollymauk before turning and hurrying away. Mollymauk was left standing in the entryway alone for a moment. He let out a mixture of a sigh and a groan, turning a few times to reset his brain.  _ Fucking hells  _ did Caleb really throw his brain for a loop sometimes… 

He really lived for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by the Spiderverse soundtrack and the Moonlight Bumps playlist on Spotify.
> 
> Hey'all thanks for sticking around- I swear I'm still here. I just literally bought a freaking house?? And, y'all know when a millennial buys a house, it really wrecks the time-space continuum, hence why I haven't posted a new chapter in six months. 
> 
> I'm back, tho. 
> 
> Im back.
> 
> Hopefully this chapter helps make up a bit for the gap ;)
> 
> As always THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for all of the continuing comments and messages regarding this fic. All of you bring a special light into my life, and I love everything you all send to me. Please feel free to talk to me at any time! I love hearing from all of you.
> 
> Wanna find me in other places? I'm on tumblr still despite all odds at battlefox.tumblr.com , or on twitter @BAXBattlefox (Or @BaxFics if you ONLY want to see my fanfic writing stuff). You can support my fanfic at my Ko-fi too if you're into that sort of thing. ( ko-fi.com/battlefox )


	11. Chapter 11

            “I really ‘preciate y’all agreeing to meet me,” Fjord thanked Molly and Caleb as they trod along behind him on the trail. They were heading a little ways into the park that Caleb had parked in front of when he had been arrested. Caleb found himself unable to keep his eyes in one place. Something about the forest was making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. To be fair, the last time he’d been here, someone’s body had been dumped right next to him, and he hadn’t noticed. He didn’t like that the forest felt like a good place to dump bodies. Caleb reminded himself silently that, in the future, he’d rather stay out of the forest.

            “Course,” Molly replied amicably, keeping up with Fjord without too much issue. He’d been practically jovial since his and Caleb’s kiss, despite the awkward silence in the car ride over here. They’d given Nott to Beau and Yasha to keep an eye on while they went with Fjord. Before they’d left, Molly had taken the time to grab a few extra weapons for him and Caleb. Just in case.

            It was due to this preparation that Caleb now had a handgun stowed in the inner pocket of his old coat.

            He hated the familiar, cold weight of the weapon.

            He especially didn’t like the memories that the weight of the weapon in his pocket was starting to dreg up.

            He hated the fact that he was about to share those memories even more.

            The inside of his mouth felt dry, and he felt himself licking his lips nervously to try and get back to a more balanced state. His skin felt like it had a small current running through it, putting him on edge. It wasn’t enough of a sensation to hurt, but enough to itch. Somehow, that was worse. His stomach was burning in his gut, and he was actively having to prevent himself from throwing up. He was incredibly tempted to just run, leave, get away… but he couldn’t anymore, could he. He’d complicated things for himself this time. He was attached to these people, still attached to Nott… He both desperately needed these attachments and despised them. He yearned for the oblivion, the lack of emotion and care that the drugs had given him. The attachment to the drugs had been just as terrible, if not worse, but at least they gave him the opportunity to just _forget._

            “Alright, let’s head off the path a ways,” Fjord suggested, glancing around before stepping off the dirt footpath and into the brush. Molly followed him with a practiced ease. Caleb hesitated.

            Was this worth it? Really worth it? Everything was about to come out. He’d really just started coming to terms with his fondness for Molly. Wouldn’t he jeopardize that if he spoke? Or would it be worse if he didn’t say anything?

            “Mister Caleb?”

            Caleb looked up to see Molly looking back, waiting for him. Though Molly’s face was plaintive, Caleb caught the flicker of concern in his eyes. Caleb found himself hating Molly, for just a moment, for making him care about him. It just made this so much harder.

            “I’m coming, I’m coming,” He mumbled, and stepped from the path, picking his way down the slope carefully. Molly seemed to relax a little, and waited until Caleb was at his side before continuing after Fjord.

            “Listen, I know we said we were gonna talk to him, but you don’t gotta if you don’t want. No one needs to make you remember anything you don’t want to,” Molly muttered to Caleb under his breath, so softly that Caleb barely heard it. Caleb looked at Molly, again struck by the man’s startling level of insight. Oh, he wanted to turn and run, but…

            “Trent knows I am involved already,” He replied quietly, “If I do not strike against him first, he will take the opportunity. I will say what I need to; I suspect it’s the only way to make it through whatever is about to happen.”

            Molly frowned at that, but did not respond. Ahead of them, Fjord stopped, and turned to watch them. He’d stopped at a small alcove that was hidden by a large formation of limestone. Once they were close enough, Fjord let out a deep sigh.

            ”Alright. I think this is about as secluded as we’ll get without straight-up backpackin’ up into the hills,” He crossed his arms, looking between the two other men, “What do you know about Trent? What is he doing behind our backs?”

            And there it was. The big question that Caleb had been dreading. And now both sets of eyes were on him, expectant. Needing answers.

            “What you ask about is…. No small thing,” Caleb began, his voice hoarse, “And it isn’t as simple as we want it to be…. If you really want to get involved in this… this is no small thing, Fjord. And once I tell you, you aren’t going to be able to go back to not knowing. Are you sure you want that?”

            “I’m already in it,” Fjord replied in a firm tone, “I know somethin’s going on, and I aim to know what it is.”

            Caleb barely bit back a retort- if Fjord knew what he was asking, there was a heavy chance he would change his mind. But he wouldn’t know that unless he told him. So… no choice, really.

            “Alright, well…” His hands clasped onto his arms, holding himself, trying to close himself off so he would be at least a little protected from what he was about to recall, “Fjord… you knew me just before I met him. Do you recall?”

            “Well, er… I remember bein’ in your course, yeah. And then you got hit by a car or somethin’? And just disappeared.”

            “Yes,” Caleb stared, but wasn’t looking directly at either of them, “I was hit by a car. I think only an hour or so after I last spoke to you, actually. The accident’s damage on my body was… extensive, but not irreparable. But I was in a lot of pain… and I was still in pain when it was time for me to stop taking medication. So I tried to seek out medication from… other sources. That is... that is when I met Mr. Ikithon.”

            He closed his eyes, letting out a shuddering breath, feeling bile rise in his throat, “I met him in a pharmacy. I’d just… just failed to get another refill for the medication I had. He’d heard me arguing with the pharmacist. He took me aside, told me that he understood what I was going through, and that he could help. He gave me his information, and I met him elsewhere. I gave him the money, and he gave me the medicine I needed. It… it seemed so harmless at the time. He was helpful, kind, even, at first. But I wasn’t working, so eventually I was running low on money to pay him. He... he offered alternative methods of payment. And when the medications stopped being as effective, he offered stronger ones. I didn’t realize how far I’d fallen until I couldn’t.. I couldn’t afford food. I couldn’t afford my home. I was being kicked out before I realized… but Trent seemed so… willing to help. He offered me a place to stay. I was ‘a smart man’, he said. I’d be useful to have around. So I started working with him directly. As I started working for him… I finally found out what it was he was doing. At that point I was so deep into using heroin, I didn’t really care. I didn’t care about anything.”

            He turned suddenly, his nausea finally overcoming him, causing him to double over and release the contents of his stomach unceremoniously onto the ground.  
            “Hey, careful there… get it out..” Molly moved to his side, rubbing Caleb’s back. Molly’s expression was guarded, but worried. Once Caleb had finished purging his system, Molly kicked dirt over the results, covering the stench a bit.

            Fjord was frowning deeply, obviously not liking what Caleb was saying, but not willing to stop listening yet, “What all was he involved in doin’ then? Is it just th’ dealing?”

            “The… the distribution is only the first part of it,” Caleb grimaced, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, “Trent has... an entire operation. Distribution, manufacturing, and… really that’s only the start. He’s working on other drugs too. New ones, that do… horrible things. He’s perfecting them, and he’s using any person he can find for testing. And… I suspect because of his position, he’s got his hands in everything. He can find anyone, he can replace anyone, and he’s very good at making people disappear.”

            Caleb swallowed hard, seeing the information hit Fjord like a bullet. He took a brief pause before letting the other shoe drop,

            “I worked… unfortunately… rather well with Trent. And I wasn’t willing to give up the drugs, so… I did anything he asked me to… As I said, Trent is very good about disposing of evidence. And people. He taught me all of that… At his request, I even…. Got rid of all of my own connections. I… that is when I broke. I took as many drugs as I could, tried to get rid of myself… that is when Nott found me.”

            His fists clenched and he let out a choked sound, “I-I… if what you say is true, and he’s gotten rid of all of the incriminating evidence against me… he knows I survived. And it sounds like he’s getting ready to ask me for a favor…”

            “Son of a bitch,” Fjord let out a breath he’d been holding while Caleb told his story, “Damn. I mean, you’re right, this… goes a lot deeper than I’d thought. But… But that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna do something about it.”

            “You don’t understand it, then,” Caleb replied sharply, “Trent has access to more information channels that you could hardly begin to shake a stick at. If you’ve already been looking into him, he’s already gone through everything you’ve done and has all the information to silence you if necessary. Whether that’s through blackmail, or by putting you down. He doesn’t care. Anyone threatening him is disposable. And the instant you start acting on this- or if he even finds out you’ve been speaking with me, and at this rate I’m sure he has- he’s going to consider you a threat. You’re already in danger, unless you keep your head down, and stop poking your nose into things that will bite it off.”

            “Odd analogy, but alright?” Fjord sighed, “Listen, I don’t really got much left to lose anyways. And I ain’t above layin’ my life on the line for this. It sounds like Trent’s not just gonna threaten me, it sounds like he’s already threatenin’ a whole mess of people. And it’s my job t’ stop that sorta thing.”

            Fjord straightened further, his jaw tightening, “And honestly, this isn’t just a matter of me following through with a duty, this is… honestly insulting. He thinks he can pull something like this off and fool so many people? He needs’ta be put back in his place.”

            Caleb let out a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a groan. There was no deterring Fjord, then. Molly, who’d been silent for a long time, finally spoke up,

            “Honestly, I don’t much like what this fellow’s doing, either. I understand bending the rules every now and then, but he’s messing with people’s lives. I don’t really care for people like that.” Molly looked to Caleb, frowning, “..And I’m sorry he was forcin’ you to do all that. You don’t deserve to be used like that. No one does.”

            Caleb still looked sick. Neither of them understood, he was trying to _warn_ them. They said it themselves! No one deserved to go through that. So why would they put themselves in the situation where it would happen to them? But they weren’t willing to understand him. So he just deflated and sank to the ground, sitting down heavily.

            “It seems you two are determined to end up dead, then.”

            “Hang on now, just because we’re getting involved doesn’t mean we’ll end up dead,” Molly smirked a little, “I think you’re underestimating us.”

            “Hmm. But.. he’s right. We do need to be careful,” Fjord sighed, “We gotta get more details before we go running after this guy. And we gotta be quiet about it. So no official investigations or nothin’.”

            “You know, I’m sure th’ people I’m bringing in have at least heard of him,” Molly suggested, “Next few skips; I could probably ask them a few questions, see what they know.”

            “Interrogating criminals on the street is going to catch attention,” Caleb pointed out, “The last thing you want is for it to get back to him that you’re asking about him.”

            “Who says I’m gonna be doing it where other people can here?” Molly countered, “And why would they snitch when I deliver them to the station?”  
            “Because you’re delivering them right to Ikithon,” Fjord frowned, “I think I have another way to get information. A better way.”

            “Oh yeah? And what sort of fancy info-gathering miracle do you have up your sleeve, pretty-boy?” Molly scoffed, “—that’s so much better than my idea, apparently?”

            “It’s, er, a friend of a friend,” Fjord admitted, “They’re rather deeply involved with the local… well, underworld. But they’re fairly respected. Pretty hard to go after. I think it’d be the safest option.”

            “Uh-huh. Right,” Molly rolled his eyes a bit, “And you said my idea- a bounty hunter going after criminals like normal- is worse than a cop blatantly visiting an underworld contact. So much smarter.”

            Fjord gave an angry huff, “Alright, you think your idea is so much better, go ahead. Be my guest. Either way, we need more information on how we can get to Trent without unnecessary collateral. However it gets done. And in any case, I wasn’t gonna go visit her myself. I _was_ gonna ask y’all to do it.”

            “Mmm…” Molly made a dissatisfied sound, but Caleb gave a small nod.

            “We could… probably make it work,” Caleb agreed, “Who is this contact.”

            “Well,” Fjord shifted a bit in his stance, glancing to the side, “The contact’s name is Jester. She works for Traveler’s Insurance. Her mom’s the one who’s really got the details, but you can’t get to her without talkin’ to Jester first. I’ll give you the information, as well as a note, and we’ll go from there.”

            “Fine,” Molly grumped, “But we’re doing my idea too.”

            “Fine.”

            Caleb looked between the two men, and sighed softly. So they were actually doing this. He still felt incredibly ill… He was just sure that there was no way for this to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by the power of friendship!!
> 
> Your comments make my world go around!!ALL OF YOU!!
> 
> Please come and talk to me on tumblr too- battlefox.tumblr.com


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